Integration Alchemy

This is the hat I’ve been afraid to wear in public.

…

…

The hat of turning breakthroughs into baseline.

Breakthroughs are the easy part of personal growth.

They can bubble up out of the blue in the shower, be excavated with the help of friends, family, therapists, coaches, or be thrust upon you by the experience of life.

But breakthroughs don’t promise you anything.

They highlight the gap between who you are now and who you want to be in the future.

What turns breakthrough into baseline is integration.

When I finally let myself get curious enough for Jinx to emerge as a core, internal archetype, nobody forced me to rewire how I walk, move, write, dance, and create.

When my desire to sing exploded in a moment of acid-infused clarity, nobody forced me to curiously follow the joy and delight I felt, start practicing, or hire a vocal coach. 

When I unknowingly stumbled into my first taste of mixing music, nobody forced me to ride the wave of pleasure and fun I felt all the way into getting my own. 

If I hadn’t consciously chosen to integrate these breakthroughs, all the potential growth available through these realizations and experiences would have wilted on the vine.

Integration is realization followed through on. Choices made. Momentum built.

Integration is what makes the version of you you want to become real.

Without integration, breakthroughs fade with each passing day. The tension between who you are and who you want to be intensifies. The frustration of not making the changes or progress that you want builds and builds and builds.

Integration is the messy middle between ‘before’ and ‘after’ that nobody likes to talk about—a challenging, uncomfortable, and raw journey lying between here and there.

This is the gap where most people loop, stall, and abandon themselves.

This gap is where I wake up every morning, and rest my head every night.

The terrain inside this gap is my native domain.

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander

P.S. Tuesday’s Whimsie will explore what navigating integration together looks like.