Go back to your old bedroom after a year away and notice which stuff still feels like you. That’s progress you can see.

Coming back to a room you left shows you the change by what no longer fits. The posters, the books, the stuff on the shelf were all chosen by somebody with slightly different taste, and whichever ones now feel like a stranger’s are the clearest proof that you moved. Growth is nearly impossible to feel while it happens and fairly easy to see this way.

Next time you are back somewhere you used to live, walk around and sort it silently into still me and not any more. Keep one or two from the second pile anyway. Notice that you could not have made that list last year.