the mirror we don’t expect

there’s a peculiar ache that comes when you meet yourself in another. not the glossy reflection in a bathroom mirror, not the polished face you curate for the world, but the raw version of you—unfiltered, unflinching—embodied in someone else’s actions.

it’s startling. humbling. sometimes even painful.

you see the quickness of your temper mirrored in their sharp retort. you hear your own dismissive silence echoed in the way they turn away. you feel the cold sting of their distance, and suddenly, you recognize the chill you’ve left in others before. this reflection doesn’t flatter, and it doesn’t bend. it shows you the truth of yourself—good, bad, and complicated—laid bare in another’s hands.

most days, we move through life unaware of the ripples we leave behind. we call our anger justified. we excuse our grudges as self-protection. we soften the edges of our harsh words with stories that make us right. but when the very behaviors we defend come back at us—when we’re on the receiving end—something shifts. what once felt necessary suddenly feels unkind. what once felt harmless lands with unexpected weight.

meeting yourself in someone else isn’t punishment. it’s invitation.
an invitation to slow down.
to listen deeper.
to admit that the way we move through the world shapes the way others feel in it.

yes, it’s uncomfortable. yes, it strips away the illusions we like to cling to. but it is also one of the most honest gifts life hands us. a chance to ask: is this who i want to be? is this the way i want to love, to lead, to leave my mark?

because change doesn’t come from looking away. change is born in the discomfort of recognition. it begins in the space where denial cracks open and humility slips in. it blooms in the moment you choose to soften instead of harden, to listen instead of defend, to hold instead of push away.

my hope—for you, for me, for all of us—is that when we meet ourselves in another, we do not shrink from it. that we let the reflection challenge us, unsettle us, even break us open. because it’s in those raw edges that transformation lives.

may your reflection in others become something you’re proud of. may it be a testament not only to your growth, but to your capacity for kindness. may it remind you that every word, every silence, every choice is a thread in the tapestry of someone else’s heart.

and may we all become the kind of reflection worth meeting.

with ink + bloom, 🌻