Personal Reflection:
We talk about transformation like it’s clean — a fresh start, a reinvention, a new chapter. But Carrel’s words remind us it’s rarely that neat. To remake ourselves is to enter into a brutal, intimate labor. We are both sculptor and stone: the hand that swings the hammer, and the surface that cracks beneath it.
That duality is what makes growth so hard. Change hurts because it requires self-inflicted loss. Old identities don’t drift away quietly — they shatter. Patterns we cling to must be chipped off piece by piece, and each strike feels personal because it is personal.
Yet within the breaking, something truer emerges. The rough stone gives way to shape, to form, to a version of ourselves that couldn’t exist without the pain of subtraction. Suffering doesn’t guarantee transformation — but without it, the marble stays uncarved.
The question isn’t whether we will be struck, but whether we will dare to keep chiseling, knowing the cost, in pursuit of what waits beneath.
Reflective Prompt:
What part of yourself have you had to let shatter in order to reveal the shape of who you are becoming?
Memoirs of Madness 
I’ve been cancelling plans with my cousins and saying no to random hangouts with friends. Sometimes, seeing their posts of vibrant, happening lives gives me a real sense of FOMO. But I’ve committed myself to studying eight hours a day, and it’s come at a cost. People say I can at least afford a single cheat day, but I believe even one skipped day breaks the chain.
Still, I believe this phase is temporary — once I achieve my milestone, all of this will still be there waiting.
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exactly …good luck
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