“Whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into, that is who you always were. It was always in you.”
Tara Westover, Educated
Wow. The more I read Educated: A Memoir, the faster I read. It was like Tara Westover’s words only baited my appetite, instead of sating it. Her word choice, story arc, and subject matter all swirled together, and by the end, I was reacting out loud to each turn of the memoir.
There were also some lovely nuggets nestled on those pages, like this quote. I love this one. It makes me think of personal evolution and finding consistency in the story of our lives. Sometimes, in this season of life, when I am a stay-at-home-mom, I feel dissociated from who I was before, a person I would have described as driven and career-oriented. Not in a million years would I have guessed I’d spend my 30s as a homemaker. Like a lot of women, I did not expect to stay home with my kids until I did. At first, this desire to stay home felt confusing, and I had trouble making sense of it. But, as I sat with it, I came to realize that that wish was consistent with my values of family and finding balance in life. Staying home, right now, was an intentional choice and a way to live out some of my long-held values.
What have you been surprised to discover was in you all along?