Broken, But Still Becoming

“Lightning McQueen didn’t win the race. He stopped just short of the finish line… to push someone else across.”
—Cars (2006)



He didn’t cross first. He didn’t leave with the trophy. But he left with something bigger—character. Growth. A story of transformation.

That moment hit me different, because winning doesn’t always look like being first. Sometimes it looks like not giving up. Sometimes it looks like showing up when the world expects you to crash.

And if you’re reading this, maybe you’re carrying the weight of every failed race, every detour, every wreck. Maybe you’re wondering if the pieces you’re holding are enough to build anything meaningful again.

Let me remind you: they are.

You don’t need to fix your whole life in a day. You don’t need to have all the answers. But what you can do—what I’ve learned matters more than we realize—is take the first step. A small one. A quiet one. One that no one else sees, but it starts the momentum.

For me, sometimes that first step is just making a cup of coffee in the morning. Not scrolling social media. Just standing there, letting the smell of something warm and familiar remind me that I’m still here. That today hasn’t taken me out yet.

Or I walk outside. Even if it’s only for a minute. Just to breathe in the air and remind myself the world is bigger than my mind’s mess. That the sky is still above me. That peace is still possible, even when I feel far from it.

Other days, it’s a song. Something I play on repeat to get through something hard. Not because I have it all together, but because I need help remembering who I’m becoming.

That’s the truth no one tells you about healing: it doesn’t come in waves of perfection. It comes in inches. In the small, quiet decisions that lead us away from who we were and closer to who we’re meant to be.

And if today your version of “winning” is getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, and choosing not to give up—

You’re already breaking through.

You’re already becoming.

—One More Breath: A Walk Towards Becoming