You Can’t Outgrow What You’re Still Rooted In
I’ve been thinking about roots lately—not the kind you water, but the ones you pull.
The kind that grow around your identity.
Around old beliefs.
Around patterns you’ve outgrown, but maybe haven’t quite released.
You know the ones.
They’re not loud. But they show up in how you speak to yourself.
They show up in hesitation. In the pressure to “get it right.” In the subtle shame of not being further along.
Recently, we cleared out a rosebush from our yard—one that never quite fit. From the outside, it looked done. Brittle. Easy to snap and toss.
But once we started, the real work showed up.
Not in the branches, but in the root.
It was deep. Twisted. Connected to far more than we expected.
And as I stood there watching it unravel, I thought: This is how it is with healing, too.
We all carry roots like that.
Beliefs that were planted in us a long time ago.
Habits that wrapped around our sense of self.
Ideas about what we’re “supposed to be.”
And here’s the truth no one says out loud:
You can’t outgrow what you’re not willing to uproot.
Clearing the surface might feel productive, but surface work doesn’t hold.
It’s the root work—the messy, slow, honest work—that actually shifts your life.
The kind of work that asks you to stay with it, even when it’s uncomfortable.
So here’s the question I’ll leave you with today:
What are you still keeping alive, even though it no longer fits?
Because if you want to grow something new—
you’ve got to be willing to dig deep.
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