Edge Walkers

In therapy—and in life—“the edge” is the place where we meet something in ourselves that we haven’t yet developed the capacity to hold.

It might be a feeling we've avoided, a truth we've struggled to face, a pattern we don't know how to change, or a kind of intimacy we've never felt safe enough to receive.

Often, it's in relationship where we encounter these edges.

And sometimes, another person walks with us right up to that threshold.

Some people accompany us for only a short stretch.

They help us arrive at one particular edge—and then they step away.

Others stay longer. A few—like children, parents, close friends, therapists—may walk with us through edge after edge, as our capacity grows.

When a relationship ends at an edge, it can feel like a failure.

But that ending might not be a failure at all.

It might be that the work of that connection was to bring us to that edge.

To help us see it clearly. To let us feel its heat.

Edges aren’t problems.

They’re invitations.

They show us where our next growth lies—and what we’re still learning to hold.