More Than One Way to Nine

Dear readers,

I read something recently that hit in that quiet, gut-level way.

“6 + 3 = 9, but so does 5 + 4.

The way you do things isn’t always the only way to do them. Respect other people’s way of thinking.” I’ll even add 7 + 2.

Simple. But layered.

Because somewhere along the line, many of us were conditioned to believe there was only one right way to show up in this world. That the path we were taught—whether in our households, our churches, or even within ourselves—was the blueprint everyone else should follow too.

But the truth is: life doesn’t always add up the same way for everyone.

Some people find peace through prayer.

Others find it through therapy.

Some rebuild their lives after a storm.

Others never had the luxury of falling apart.

Some people are barely holding it together—and still getting to nine.

Let me say this plainly:

I haven’t always offered grace to people whose process didn’t look like mine.

There were times I mistook difference for defiance.

I assumed if someone wasn’t doing it the way I understood, they must be doing it wrong.

But over time, life has a way of humbling you.

And God has a way of showing you that someone else’s journey is none of your business until it becomes your responsibility—or your testimony.

This shows up in quiet ways:

When you parent your child one way, and someone else’s method makes you question everything.

When your healing looks like solitude, and theirs looks like community.

When someone’s faith is louder or quieter than yours, and you start measuring commitment by volume.

But none of it means they’re wrong. It just means they’re not you.

Here’s the hard-earned truth:

You can be fully convinced of your way and still hold space for someone else’s.

You can believe in your process and still respect someone else’s outcome.

You don’t have to understand it to honor it.

We’re not meant to be duplicates. We’re not here to be spiritual twins.

We’re all just trying to make it—with the math we’ve been given, the tools we have, and the grace we pray for.

And if we’re not careful, we’ll spend so much time defending our equation… that we forget what we were solving for in the first place.

With different math and the same heart,

Just Catrina