You Can Take the Things. You Can’t Take What’s in Me.
Seven years ago, I wrote something that recently found its way back to me:
I shared it again four years ago as a graphic in my stories.
And now, here I am reading it seven years after I first wrote it.
The words are the same.
I am NOT!
Seven years ago, I knew I believed them. Today, I understand them.
Because life has a way of teaching you what you meant before you had the experience to fully explain it.
There are things we spend years building around ourselves.
Careers. Titles. Businesses. Income. Homes. Plans. Relationships. Reputations. Dreams.
We work hard for them. We become proud of them. Sometimes we even begin to associate them with who we are.
Then life changes.
A chapter ends.
A plan does not work out the way we expected.
Something we thought would always be there suddenly is not.
And we are left with a question that can feel uncomfortable:
Who am I without the thing I spent so much time building?
What Remains
This season of my life has forced me to think about that question differently. Because when something changes on the outside, it can be easy to focus on what is missing.
The title is gone.
The routine is different.
The income may change.
The plan looks nothing like the one you had six months ago.
But eventually, you start noticing what did not leave with it.
Your experience is still there.
Your creativity is still there.
Your leadership is still there.
The relationships you built are still there.
The lessons are still there.
Your ability to solve problems is still there.
Your curiosity is still there.
Your ability to connect with people is still there.
Your ideas are still there.
Your heart is still there.
And if you are lucky, the passion is still there too.
That realization changes everything.
Because suddenly, you understand that the things you built were never the only evidence of your value.
The person who built them was the asset all along.
I Have Built More Than One Life
When I look back, I realize I have built and rebuilt more times than I probably gave myself credit for.
I have built a career.
I have built teams.
I have built businesses.
I have helped develop leaders.
I have built community.
I have raised a family while figuring out life in real time.
I have started things because I saw possibility where there was nothing yet.
Some of those things grew.
Some changed.
Some lasted longer than others.
Some had to be put down while life required something different from me.
And some are finding their way back to me now.
The common denominator was never the company, the title, the business, or even the opportunity.
It was me.
That does not mean everything works because I want it to.
It does not mean every transition is easy.
It does not mean I never question what comes next.
It simply means I have evidence that I know how to build.
And that evidence matters.
Starting Again, Is Not Starting From Zero
I used to think starting over meant going back to the beginning.
I do not believe that anymore.
Most of the time, we are not starting over.
We are starting again, and starting again is different.
When you start again, you are carrying everything the last chapter taught you.
You bring the wins.
You bring the mistakes.
You bring the relationships.
You bring the confidence.
You bring better questions.
You bring stronger boundaries.
You bring a clearer understanding of what matters.
You bring the lessons you paid for with time, disappointment, effort, and sometimes tears.
You bring proof that you have figured things out before.
That is not zero.
That is experience.
Maybe the new thing does not look like the old thing. Maybe it is not supposed to.
Sometimes Passion Waits for You
There are parts of ourselves that get quieter when life gets busy.
The business idea gets pushed to the side.
The creative project stays in the notebook.
The hobby becomes something we say we will get back to eventually.
The dream waits because responsibility has the louder voice.
But I am learning that passion does not always disappear. Sometimes it waits.
It waits for the season when you finally have the space to hear it again.
Sometimes a life transition, even one you did not ask for, gives you an opportunity to revisit the parts of yourself you placed on the shelf.
What still excites me?
What have I been saying I would do one day?
What part of myself do I want to bring back?
What have I learned that could help someone else?
What can I build now that I could not have built seven years ago?
Those questions feel very different to me today.
And maybe that is why this old memory stopped me.
It was not simply reminding me of something I posted.
It was reminding me of something I knew about myself before I needed to prove it.
The Things Inside You Matter Too
We are taught to measure success by what we can see.
The promotion.
The salary.
The degree.
The business.
The house.
The number.
The accomplishment.
And those things can absolutely matter.
But there are other assets we rarely list.
The ability to walk into uncertainty and figure things out.
The courage to try again.
The willingness to learn.
The ability to connect dots other people do not see yet.
The instinct to create.
The capacity to serve.
The relationships you have nurtured.
The way people feel when they work with you.
The ability to lead when you do not have all the answers.
The belief that there is still something worth building.
Those things matter too.
Maybe more than we realize until the external things change.
Seven years ago, I wrote that someone might be able to take material things from me or talk about me, but they could never take what was inside of me.
Today, I would say it a little differently.
Things can change around me.
A chapter can close.
A plan can fall apart.
An opportunity can disappear.
Someone can misunderstand me.
Life can look completely different than I expected.
But none of that gets to take my experience.
My creativity.
My ability to lead.
My capacity to love people.
My willingness to learn.
My curiosity.
My ideas.
My heart.
My passion.
Or my ability to build again.
Seven years ago, I said my heart and passion would always win.
Today, I understand why.
Because whatever changes around me, I still trust the woman inside of it to figure out what comes next.
And maybe that is the real win.
With Bri
Lead with Purpose • Explore with Curiosity • Elevate Yourself • Live Intentionally
