Have you ever felt like a single moment could stretch into an eternity, or perhaps felt the ache of a gap that no map could ever bridge? Tennessee Williams once said that time is the longest distance between two places. To me, this means that physical distance is often the easy part to overcome. We can hop on a plane, drive a long highway, or walk a winding path to reach a new destination. But the distance created by time—the space between who we were and who we are becoming, or the gap between a memory and our present reality—is much harder to traverse. It is a distance that cannot be measured in miles, but in the slow, quiet ache of waiting and changing.

I think about this often when I look at old photographs. I remember a time when I felt so far away from the person I am today, as if that version of me lived in a different country entirely. It wasn't just that the years had passed; it was that the emotional landscape had shifted so much that reaching back to that younger self felt like trying to walk across an ocean. We often focus so much on the physical places we want to go, yet we forget that the most significant journeys are the ones that require us to move through the layers of our own history, navigating the seasons of grief, growth, and transformation.

I remember helping a dear friend who was struggling to move past a period of great loss. She could physically be in the same room as her loved ones, but she felt stranded in a time that no longer existed. She was physically present, but temporally lost. We spent many afternoons just sitting in silence, acknowledging that the distance between her current heartache and her previous joy was a vast, unmapped territory. It took a long time to build a bridge across that gap, not by rushing, but by allowing each small second to count, slowly bringing her present self closer to a place of peace.

It is okay if you feel stuck in a certain era of your life, or if you feel a profound distance between where you are and where you dream to be. Time can feel like a heavy barrier, but remember that every passing moment is a tiny step toward closing that gap. You don't have to leap across the distance all at once. Just focus on the small, gentle movement of today. Take a moment to reflect on how far you have already traveled through time, and be kind to yourself as you navigate the long road toward your next destination.