11/08/2025
Story Time~
I remember the first time I sat across from my friend Zena at that little cafĂŠ downtown, sipping overpriced lattes and talking about everything and nothing. She was brilliant, funny, and had this quiet intensity that drew people in. But somewhere in our third conversation, she mentioned offhandedly, âI could never be with someone who doesnât travel. Itâs such a red flag.â I nodded, not thinking much of it. I don't travel much and I don't see myself ever doing itânot because I didnât want to, but because I just hadnât gotten around to it.
A few months later, Dean started dating Zena.
He didnât say anything as he didnât want to seem insecure or like he was trying to change. But inside, he started imagining a future where he was the kind of person who could travelâsomeone who could meet his girlfriend expectations. This dude, weâll call him Dean, began reading travel blogs, saving money, planning trips he didnât even want. He told himself it was for her. But really, Dean was planting a seed: the assumption that he wasnât enough as he was. That he needed to become someone else to be loved.
And then, one rainy Tuesday, Zena looked at him and said, âYouâve changed. Youâre not the same person I fell for.â Dean was stunned. He hadnât changedâIâve been trying to become what I thought you wanted he told her. The very thing he assumed was a deal-breaker? It had become the thing that drove them apart.
Thatâs when Zena realized how dangerous assumptions are.
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Lesson:
(sit with each paragraphs below until it makes total sense, I understand that not everyone has studied how the mind works ~
We donât just assume things about others. We assume things about ourselvesâabout what we deserve, what weâre capable of, who weâre meant to be. And then we spend years watering those thoughts with fear, doubt, and silent worry. We think, âIâll never find someone who understands me,â and suddenly, every connection feels like a failure. We think, âTheyâre going to leave,â and we pull away before they even get close. We judge someone as ânot for us,â and then, against all logic, they show up in our life anyway.
Itâs not magic. Itâs not fate. Itâs the mind. The mind doesnât distinguish between what you fear and what you focus on. It doesnât know the difference between a warning and a wish. It just grows what you feed it. (Imagine your mind is a garden and your thoughts are the seeds you planted. You water it and give it sunshine to grow each time you give the seed your attention. WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT YOU BRING ABOUT.
I used to think judgment was protective. âIâll never date someone like that,â Iâd say, as if I could control the future by labelling it. But the future doesnât care about our labels. It only cares about your attention. And when we give our energy to fearâwhen we replay the worst-case scenario like a broken recordâweâre not preparing for it. We are inviting it.
Iâve learned now to pause before I assume. To ask: Is this true? Or is this just a story Iâve told myself? Is this thought serving meâor is it just noise Iâve been feeding?
The next time you catch yourself thinking, âIâll neverâŚâ or âTheyâre just likeâŚâ or âI hope this doesnât happenâŚââstop. Look at it. Donât water it with more and more attention.
Because the seed youâre holding right now? Itâs already taking root.
And what grows from it⌠will be yours to live.
âââ˘â°â˘Â°â°â˘Â°ââ˘ââ
ŠTheOtherSideOfThis