Permission to Evolve: A Therapist’s Reflection on Growth, Change, and Becoming

Dear Fellow Therapists,

This December feels different. Not only because the year is ending, but because my own personal new year begins. I am stepping into my 50^th birthday, a milestone that feels sacred, powerful, and deeply reflective. It marks half a century of living, learning, healing, teaching, serving, and becoming.

This past year has been one of the most expansive seasons of my life. I entered the final phase of my doctoral journey and stepped into the long-anticipated dissertation process. I earned prestigious fellowship opportunities. I presented at international, national, and state level conferences. I shared my first poster presentation. I served on panels within my community. I secured significant consulting opportunities. And this spring, I will begin my first official faculty role, a moment that still feels both surreal and deeply aligned.

Professionally, academically, and personally, I stretched further than I ever imagined. I allowed myself to be seen, to take up space, and to grow into the version of myself I once quietly prayed for. And still, life continued to life. There were highs and lows, wins and losses, joyful celebrations, and painful goodbyes. There was grief that sat quietly in the background and joy that broke through unexpectedly. Yet through it all, I kept becoming. Becoming more grounded, more assured, more aligned, more open, more faithful, and more myself.

As the sun sets on my 40s, I find myself holding deep gratitude for every lesson and every season that carried me here. Fifty feels like an arrival. Not a finish line, but a sacred threshold. A moment that whispers, you are allowed to evolve. A moment that honors every version of me that survived, healed, learned, and kept going. A moment that welcomes the versions of me still waiting to emerge.

To my fellow therapists, especially those who pour into others without always pausing to honor their own becoming, I hope this reflection gives you permission to evolve. Permission to grow beyond who you were last year or even last week. Permission to honor your own milestones. Permission to acknowledge your fears while still stepping forward. Permission to hold both the tenderness and the triumphs of this work and this life.

As the year closes, I invite you to take inventory. Not of productivity, but of growth. Not of what you achieved, but of who you became. And as you prepare to enter a new year of service, supervision, scholarship, leadership, or healing work, may you remember that your evolution is not only allowed. It is necessary.

Here is to becoming. Here is to evolving. Here is to stepping into the next season with intention, courage, and grace. Happy December, and cheers to the journey ahead.

Wishing you all wellness and growth,

Jinia