Where do we find true fulfillment? How did we get lost along the way? These lushly written, emotionally resonant stories light candles along the path as we each search for purpose.

They will tell you that a better version of yourself is waiting to be found.

Every day, we hear a version of this message, and so we search and strive. Yet none of the places we’ve been told to look—our careers, relationships, even dreams that come true—seem to give lasting satisfaction. After twenty years as a professional writer of other people’s truth, Anna Mitchael found herself at the same crossroads. Tired of reaching and wondering where it was all headed, she began asking questions.

They will tell you to cut the blooms off your roses so that the flowers can grow back bigger and better.

This book is an invitation that grew from those inquiries. A series of vignettes, as incisive as they are lyrical, paints a portrait of a woman growing from childhood into early adulthood, navigating family, friendships, identity, career ambitions, and love. While this woman moves through a time of crisis that ultimately turns into an awakening, we see her explore, fall down, and get back up. As she learns to sift the messages she is told, we, too, are encouraged to seek truth beyond what the world has prescribed for our happiness.