You Are Not Behind, You Are Becoming

A quiet moment of reflection by the water, reminding us that growth does not follow a timeline. Like wine, we evolve in our own time.

There’s a quiet panic many women carry that rarely gets named.

The feeling that everyone else received a timeline you somehow missed.
That by now you should be clearer, calmer, further along.
That life is moving forward, and you’re… circling.

But what if nothing has gone wrong?

In the world of wine, there’s no such thing as behind. There is only ripening.

Grapes are never harvested by the calendar. They’re harvested by readiness. Sugar levels. Acidity. Structure. The fruit tells the winemaker when it’s time. Pick too early and you lose depth. Too late and you lose balance. Timing isn’t rushed. It’s listened for.

And yet, we rarely offer ourselves the same grace.

We measure our lives against milestones that were never designed with our inner seasons in mind. Careers by certain ages. Relationships by certain years. Confidence by a deadline that quietly whispers, you should be past this by now.

But growth doesn’t follow straight lines. It follows cycles.

Some years are expansive. Others are clarifying. Some are quietly structural, doing work beneath the surface that no one applauds. Wine doesn’t apologize for this. It doesn’t explain itself. It trusts the process.

So why do we struggle to?

Many women I work with aren’t stuck. They’re mid fermentation. Things are active, unstable, in motion. Old identities are breaking down. New ones aren’t fully formed yet. It can feel uncomfortable. Uncertain. Lonely.

But it’s also sacred.

Becoming isn’t a pause in your life. It is your life.

The version of you who’s questioning, recalibrating, slowing down, changing her mind isn’t late to anything. She’s listening. She’s learning. She’s refining.

Just like wine, you are not meant to peak once and stay there. You are meant to evolve. To develop nuance. To gain complexity. To surprise even yourself.

If your life were a vintage, this moment wouldn’t be labeled failure or delay. It would be labeled in progress.

And that’s not a flaw.
That’s where the depth comes from.

A quiet reflection

If you stopped asking “Am I behind?” and started asking “What is this season shaping in me?” what might shift?

You are not late.
You are not lost.
You are becoming.

And that’s exactly on time.