"Excuses," my father says, "are an abdication...to step down and give up a major responsibility." His words settled in on the drive back from his surgery. This past week has been an impossible contrast. In the same few days I’ve been navigating hospitals, I also submitted my final manuscript—a huge step toward my goal of becoming an author.

This gave me a moment of clarity. The choice I made two years ago—to be a creator, not a complainer—is what allows me to see this week not as a crisis competing with a milestone, but as a life fully lived. When you stop making excuses, you unlock the capacity to hold it all. The way to do that is to let the light through the gaps, a beauty the Japanese call Komorebi. It’s knowing when to push and when to flow... "Excuses," my father says, "are an abdication...to step down and give up a major responsibility." His words settled in on the drive back from his surgery. This past week has been an impossible contrast. In the same few days I’ve been navigating hospitals, I also submitted my final manuscript—a huge step toward my goal of becoming an author.

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