Slingshot Weekly (12/17/25) | You're In The Middle

Every story you have ever loved includes a moment where everything feels like it is falling apart.

The main character starts questioning the plan, the path, even the purpose. Nothing seems to fit together anymore. The tension rises. The audience leans in and wonders how this could possibly turn into something meaningful. That moment is not a mistake in the story. It is the point. The middle is never meant to feel complete. The same is true for your life. You are not behind. You are not failing.

You are simply in the middle of your story.

For many people, this year did not unfold the way they imagined. Maybe you started something with excitement and momentum, only to watch it stall or end sooner than expected. Maybe you tried and failed, then pivoted, then tried again until you started questioning whether you were even on the right path to begin with. Maybe you outgrew something that once made sense. A job. A friendship. A version of yourself. Now you are sitting in that uncomfortable space between what was and what comes next.

The middle is unsettling because it lacks answers. There is no clean resolution. There is no clear map forward. And yet, this is exactly where transformation happens. Growth rarely announces itself with certainty. It often arrives disguised as confusion, waiting, or change. It shows up in the quiet work no one sees. The late night reflections. The small but brave decisions. The moments where you choose to keep going even when no one is watching and no one is clapping. This kind of progress does not look impressive from the outside, but it is deeply meaningful on the inside.

While it may not feel like progress, it is. You are learning what does not fit anymore. You are gaining clarity about what matters. You are becoming someone new, even if you cannot fully name who that is yet. You are editing your story in real time, sentence by sentence, choice by choice. The ending might not be clear, but the direction is forming.

There is pressure in our culture to skip ahead. To rush toward certainty. To demand answers before we are ready for them. But stories do not work that way. Neither do lives. The middle is where characters build resilience, courage, and self trust. It is where they stop chasing perfection and start choosing honesty.

So begin again. Not because everything suddenly makes sense, but because you are learning to trust yourself even when it does not. This messy, uncertain, in between chapter might be the one that shapes everything that comes after it.

You do not need to fast forward. You do not need to have it all figured out. You just need to keep writing.

Reflection Question of the Week:

• What part of my life feels unfinished right now, and what might it be teaching me instead of trying to rush past it?
• Where have I been mistaking uncertainty for failure when it may actually be growth in progress?
• What would it look like to give myself permission to stay in the middle and keep moving forward anyway?