Morgan Harper Nichols' Blog

Tag: encouragement

  • Emerge from the chrysalis

    Emerge from the chrysalis

    Emerge from the chrysalis,
    come into the sunlight…
    after all of the waiting,
    now is the time to fly.

    I hope you can find at least one area of your life where you can say, “now is the time. After all the waiting, now is the time.”

    Of course there are many things in life for which we cannot control how long the waiting will take, but at the same time, it can still be worth it to identify where we can say “now is the time,” anyway. To say:

    “When will I stop waiting on approval from others? To stop thinking I have to have it all figured out perfectly before again? Now is the time.”

    Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, let yourself begin to look for ways to come alive, beyond the waiting. And even if it’s subtle, know that it matters to come forth into the sunlight this way. This too, is transformation.

    – Morgan Harper Nichols

    A colorful digital illustration of a butterfly emerging from a pink chrysalis hanging on a branch. The butterfly’s wings are vibrant shades of blue, green, and yellow, with black edges and orange dots. The background features a pastel mountain landscape at sunrise or sunset, with a gradient sky of pink, blue, and orange hues. Beneath the butterfly, white handwritten-style text reads: "Emerge from the chrysalis. Come into the sunlight. After all of the waiting, now is the time to fly."
  • Let today be what today needs to be

    Let today be what today needs to be

    as you move through the day,
    may you know it’s okay
    to create a little space,
    to let this day be
    what it needs to be.
    and however you can,
    create room to simply breathe.

    for you have already been through
    so much,
    and to simply breathe
    through this moment
    is more than enough.

    inhale,
    exhale,
    and pace yourself
    through the landscape
    of the day,
    gathering what you need as you go.

    grace,
    gratitude,
    space,
    hope,
    joy,
    love,
    rest,
    room to feel what you need to feel,
    room to grieve,
    room to embrace gentleness,
    slowness,
    room to learn what it means to be free,
    room to breathe,
    room to
    breathe.

    in your stillness, in your motion,
    in your silence, in your song…
    breathe.

    -Morgan Harper Nichols

  • The Importance of Sharing Your Story

    The Importance of Sharing Your Story

    Imagine buying a pot with soil for a plant to grow. The entire experience of going to the store and selecting the pot is an important part of the process, even before the plant begins to sprout. This experience is a part of the story, just as significant as the growth that will follow.

    Now, picture meeting a friend later that day and they ask you about your day. You share the story of going to the store, choosing the perfect pot, and picking out the seed. As you recount the details, you express your emotions and excitement about watching the plant grow in the future. This narrative can be complete and meaningful story even without the plant’s growth.

    Perhaps, in some ways, your life, as it is right now, has parts that can be shared like that. It’s a story unfolding, filled with experiences, emotions, and anticipation for what’s to come. You might not have the exact details of how everything is going to turn out, but you’ve been fully engaged with the steps of the process not because you have all the answers but because you’ve lived it…and it’s something you can share with others.

    Pay attention to the moments of your life where you start to tell the story of where you are and who you are. Notice how there might be storylines unfolding in your life right now that quite have this easy-to-explain metamorphosis moment, but it’s still something worth telling because it’s real, and it also reminds others that they don’t have to have every storyline figured out before it’s something worth telling.

    There are moments in life when advice is given, but perhaps, there are even more moments in life where stories are untold. But who says they have to be perfectly polished stories? Who says there can’t be places for stories to be shared, even while they’re still in the making?

    Even before the next chapters are written, your current story is valid, significant, and worth sharing.

    An illustrated image of a small potted plant with green leaves, centered against a background of radiating teal, dark blue, yellow, and peach beams that resemble stylized sunlight or energy. The pot is terracotta-colored and sits on a dark shadow. Below the image is handwritten text that reads: “This life, right here, tells a story as it is… even before new chapters have been written.” The overall style is painterly and contemplative.

    – Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Stories of Change: How Clarity Emerges Over Time

    Stories of Change: How Clarity Emerges Over Time

    In some stories, a character may find themselves in a place where everything feels uncertain, where the path ahead is unclear. And even though the answers don’t come all at once, with time, something shifts…whether in what they understand or what they are ready to reconsider.

    In other stories, characters may start with a clear sense of direction, only to have it unravel, forcing them to look again, to reconsider, to notice what they hadn’t before.

    And then there are stories where characters resist change, holding on tightly to what they’ve known, until something (whether it be small or significant) breaks through, and suddenly, they can’t help but see differently.

    All of these kinds of stories are examples of many different shapes a life can take. Whether it’s a fictional story or a real-life story someone is telling, no two unfold in exactly the same way. But what they all have in common is that somewhere along the way, clarity began to take shape. And not because the confusion disappeared all at once, but because they started paying attention. A pattern appears. A question becomes clearer. Something makes sense that didn’t before. And these things took shape not because the character instantly arrived at a place where everything made sense at once, but because they had been on a journey…one that wasn’t always linear or clear, but a journey where understanding shifted, not as a single moment, but as layers forming and reforming over time…A journey with many components that allowed them to notice…perhaps even to wonder.

    There are different ways that clarity can emerge in a story. Through layers: when meaning builds gradually, one piece at a time. Through movement: when a shift in direction changes everything that came before it. Through openness: when an unanswered question holds more than a single answer ever could.

    And these are just a few. But they are all examples of how, even before things make sense, the journey itself can still be significant…a place where meaning takes shape…not by figuring it all out at once, but by learning to pay attention, on the journey.

    -Morgan Harper Nichols