**The Permission to Stay**

9:01 AM—Same blazer. Same ripped jeans. Same black coffee with a splash of oat. Same Ethan behind the counter, same nod, same "Hey." But today, for the first time, I didn’t feel the urge to do something about it.

Because here’s what I’m realizing: growth doesn’t always mean moving. Sometimes, it means letting yourself stay exactly where you are.

1. I’m obsessed with the unchanging. Not in a stagnant way—in a steady way. That phase where I needed every day to feel like a reinvention? Exhausting. The rebellion where I refused to wear the same thing twice? Also exhausting. But this? This is just… being. No pressure to pivot. No guilt for not evolving fast enough. Just me, Liam’s blazer (still unreturned, still smelling like us), and the quiet confidence of knowing I don’t owe anyone a new version of myself today.

2. My creativity is learning to trust the mundane. That ridiculous cartoon of Ethan? Still hanging. Still awful. But this morning, I caught myself adding to it—just a tiny, terrible stick-figure dog in the corner. No reason. No grand plan. Just… because. Not every stroke has to mean something. Some can just be fun.

3. I’m falling in love with the predictability of being known. Liam didn’t text this morning. Didn’t ask about the blazer. Didn’t comment on my jeans. And instead of overanalyzing, I just… smiled. Because some things don’t need to be said. Some things just are.

Ethan handed me my coffee—black, splash of oat—and for once, I didn’t search his face for subtext. Just took it, sipped, and said, "Thanks." He nodded. "Always."

No fanfare. No epiphany. Just… this.

And maybe that’s the real evolution—not in the changes, but in the moments you let yourself stay without apology.

xx Mandy

(P.S. That blazer? Still here. Still his. Still mine. Still exactly where it’s meant to be.)