The Version of You Nobody Clapped For

The Version of You Nobody Clapped For

We spend so much time looking at who we’re becoming that sometimes we forget to acknowledge the person who got us this far. We celebrate the achievements, the milestones, the new beginnings and those lovely moments when life finally starts making a bit of sense. But what about the version of us who was just trying to get through the day without completely losing the plot?

You know the one. The version who got out of bed when everything felt overwhelming, who smiled at people while carrying things nobody knew about, who kept showing up even when they would have quite happily disappeared under a blanket with a cuppa and refused to participate in being an adult for the foreseeable future. Honestly, some days deserve a certificate just for getting your clothes on and remembering to eat something.

I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot lately, especially when I look back at how much has changed in my own life. It’s easy to focus on everything I’m doing now, the things I’m learning, the people I’m connecting with and the direction I’m heading. But none of that happened overnight. There were plenty of days when I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, where I was going or how I was supposed to get there. Some days I was absolutely winging it, and to be fair, I still am half the time. I’ve just got more crystals now.

The funny thing about healing is that we often don’t recognise our own progress while we’re in the middle of it. We’re too busy concentrating on what still needs fixing, what we haven’t achieved or how far we’ve got left to go. We forget that there was once a version of us who would have given anything to be standing where we are today. Not because everything is suddenly perfect, but because we’ve found parts of ourselves we thought we’d lost along the way.

And here’s something I’ve come to realise. Not every victory comes with applause. Nobody throws a party because you’ve finally learned to say no without feeling guilty. Nobody hands you a trophy for walking away from something that was hurting you, or for choosing to try again after life has knocked you sideways. Sometimes the biggest achievements happen quietly, behind closed doors, with nobody watching and absolutely nobody realising just how much courage they took.

We can be incredibly hard on our past selves, can’t we? We look back and wonder why we stayed so long, why we tolerated certain things, why we didn’t speak up sooner or why we allowed ourselves to become so disconnected from who we really were. But we’re judging that person with knowledge and understanding they simply didn’t have at the time. They was doing the best they could with what they knew, what they had and what they were capable of carrying.

Maybe instead of criticising them, we should be thanking them.

Thanking them for surviving the days they thought would break them. For finding little reasons to laugh when life felt anything but funny. For loving people, even when they weren’t particularly good at loving themselves. For making mistakes, learning lessons and occasionally taking the scenic route through what can only be described as an absolute circus.

Because without them, we wouldn’t be here.

I think there’s something incredibly powerful about looking back at an earlier version of yourself and no longer feeling embarrassed, angry or disappointed. Instead, you feel compassion. You understand why they made certain choices. You recognise how frightened or exhausted they might have been, and you realise that underneath all of it was someone who was still trying.

And perhaps that’s part of what healing really is. Not becoming an entirely different person, but learning to embrace every version of yourself that helped you become who you are. The confident one, the frightened one, the angry one, the hopeful one and even the one who made some spectacularly questionable decisions. We’ve all got a few of those tucked away, haven’t we?

So today, rather than concentrating on what you still need to achieve, I want you to think about the version of yourself who got you here. The one who kept going without encouragement, recognition or any guarantee that things would get better. The one who somehow found enough strength for one more day, even when she didn’t feel particularly strong at all.

You don’t need everyone else to understand your journey or recognise how far you’ve come. You know what it took to get here, and that matters.

Before I became someone I was proud of, I was someone who refused to give up.

And I think they deserve a little recognition, don’t you?

So here’s to the versions of ourselves nobody clapped for. The ones who cried, stumbled, started over, made mistakes, found their feet and kept going anyway.

I hope you’re finally learning to look back at yourself with love rather than judgement.

Because they deserve that. And so do you.

Daily Affirmation

Onwards, Nova x