Growing anyway

Lately, I’ve been noticing how some people seem to treat my growth and creativity like a competition — and it has been an exhausting feeling.

I don’t wake up trying to outdo anyone. I just want to enjoy what I love, keep learning, and grow at my own pace. But instead of support, I sometimes hear dismissive comments or notice people mirroring what I do, almost as if something needs to be proven.

It shows up in small, subtle ways. I share something that helps me reflect or process life, and soon it becomes a shared interest. I casually mention wanting something, and before long, someone else already has it. Even parts of my blog have been copied elsewhere. Of course, anyone is free to explore the same things — but sometimes the energy behind it feels less like inspiration and more like comparison.

At first, it bothered me. It felt like my every move was being watched, copied, or quietly dismissed. But the more I sat with that feeling, the more I understood something important: their reactions say more about them than they do about me.

My creativity, my growth, my choices ...they belong to me. People can follow similar paths, buy the same tools, or try the same ideas, but they cannot recreate the meaning behind what I create. They cannot write my stories, feel my experiences, or leave the same imprint on the things I make. Authenticity isn’t something that can be replicated.

So I’m choosing not to shrink or hold myself back because someone else feels uncomfortable with who I’m becoming. My path isn’t about proving anything to anyone. It’s about living fully and honestly, on my own terms.

And maybe that’s what happiness looks like for me right now: sitting by the sea in my little apartment, journaling while Munchkin curls up nearby, coffee in hand as the waves roll in. Quiet, simple, real moments that belong entirely to me.

No one can copy the feeling of that.

E.