Look at your hands and knees riddled with the scars that you have collected throughout the years. You'll never walk with the same "hop" in your step as you did when you first began walking around this world. The first time you fell taught you that you have to be careful with the steps that you take, and the scar on your knee is there to remind you of that. You had no idea that when you put on that Hello Kitty band-aid, you would do so many more times than once. It doesn't take only one fall to teach a human to not repeat the same mistakes again. It takes many falls, time and time again, and even some may never learn.

After falling again, many people feel stuck. Many people become fixated on the debate between believing that things can get better than their current situation and waiting to get hit by life again. I know for as long as I can remember, I have lived my life in greater fear of the second punch so much more than the first. The only up side to the second hit is that you know what to expect, but then again, you never know when to expect it coming. Life will never be the same as it was before you got hit the first time, living with blissful innocence. Some of us get hit for the first time when we are young, others won't until later in life. Life is forever changed the moment life grips you by the collar of your shirt, screaming into your face that you aren't good enough. It is changed when you look at Life yelling at you in the face, telling it how great you are despite the number of falls, hits, punches, or "whatevers" you have endured.

I began thinking of this as I was at my new job as a barista at my favorite coffee shop from high school. It was a job I never thought I would have, while I am currently at a place in life I never thought I would be in. Nothing in the last month has been predictable, and it had me questioning if life had its best intentions for me. As I stood there grinding coffee during the first hour of my closing shift, I looked down at my shirt for a brief second. Under the fresh grounds that laid like freckles on the white fabric, bore a positive message I had once overlooked:"The best is yet to come." I never wore this shirt until today, and I think maybe it was because I was destined to wear this shirt on this day and notice it in this moment. I would have never appreciated the significance of the shirt until today, at 3:12 PM at my new job, at a new point in my life. I would have never realized how true it is: the best is yet to come.