Sometimes You Have to Step In Before You Know

The end of August usually feels like a return to routine. School starts. Work starts. Calendars fill up again. Except this year, I don't really have an old routine to return to.

Right now, we are living with wonderful friends while waiting to move into our new home. Most of our belongings are packed away, and every day I seem to be driving somewhere I've never been before — new schools, new workplaces, new neighborhoods, new people.

I'm arranging playdates with parents I've only just met, walking into new rooms and making decisions without really knowing yet where they will lead. It is exciting. And sometimes completely overwhelming.

But underneath all of that, I already feel something very clearly:

Moving was the right decision. Not because everything has fallen perfectly into place. It hasn't.

But I'm realizing how often we expect ourselves to know before we're willing to move.

Sometimes you have to experience the answer

Yesterday I watched this happen with one of my daughters. She was visiting a new dance school after leaving the team and dance community she has known for years.

She was nervous and wanted to watch from the side. Eventually, she put her feet on the floor and danced. And afterwards, something had changed.

She had felt the room. Met the people. Moved with the other dancers. She now knew something that standing on the side and thinking about it could never have told her.

Sometimes we need to move before we can feel what is right.

I recognize the same thing in myself right now. My mind would love guarantees. It wants to analyze, predict and make the “right” decision before I step forward. And that's very human.

Our brains naturally look for safety and predictability. Uncertainty can activate our internal alarm system because, from a survival perspective, the unknown could mean danger.

But uncomfortable doesn't always mean unsafe. And unfamiliar doesn't necessarily mean wrong. Sometimes it simply means new.

This is where being connected to myself has become so important. Not because mindfulness gives me all the answers. It doesn't.

But it helps me notice when fear is speaking louder than everything else — and gives me enough space to take a step anyway.

A new kind of routine

So maybe this end of August isn't about returning to my old routines. It's about creating new ones.

I'm taking a lot with me: the practices that support me, the people I love, the work that matters to me and the parts of myself I've worked hard to build.

And I'm leaving some things behind too. Old patterns. Expectations. And perhaps the idea that I need to have everything figured out before I move.

Change doesn't always require us to become someone new. Sometimes it simply shows us what we want to bring with us — and what we're ready to leave behind.

So this is my practice as August comes to an end:

Stay connected. Take the next step. Feel. Adjust. Keep moving.

Not fearlessly. Not with all the answers. Just without requiring certainty first.

With warmth,
Karítas 🤍