The photo didn't mock me today, didn't feel like a personal indictment… progress looks like that, I guess. Sometimes I catch my reflection and don't immediately cringe. It's such a subtle shift, almost unnoticeable, but it's the bedrock everything else is built on. Like, maybe I'm not fundamentally broken after all. There are still certain angles, certain lights, that reveal the "before" picture despite everything. I brace myself for those moments now, knowing they'll pass, but the vigilance never really fades.