Exactly

Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it,

as a young seed must feel

the weight and inertia of the earth

as it seeks to break out of its shell

on its way to becoming a plant.

Often the feeling is anything but pleasant.

But what is most unpleasant

is the not knowing what is happening.

Those long periods when something inside ourselves

seems to be waiting,

holding its breath,

unsure about what the next step should be,

eventually become the periods we wait for,

for it is in those periods

that we realize

that we are being prepared

for the next phase of our life

and that, in all probability,

a new level of the personality

is about to be revealed....

Alice Walker