A Search for Progress: Stephanie Morris

When was the last time you completed a word search?

Defining Ourselves

A guest post from Stephanie Morris. We first met when Steph was a teen in our congregation. In June 2024 we reconnected with her and her husband and two children at the wedding of a mutual friend. We share a love of writing.

Steph created this post about what progress can mean to you.

I engaged in a word search recently posted to a small-business page on social media. Like others, this one displayed a plethora of letters in neat rows and columns. Of course, they weren’t entirely randomized. Hidden within the seemingly chaotic grid of ill-arranged letters were complete words in either left-right, right-left, upward, downward, or diagonal succession. A common word search, or so it appeared.

Where it differed was in its omission of a word legend. Instead of having a list of specific words to find, the game had a personalizing prompt. It wanted me to define myself as the first word I saw. I enjoy games like this, so I began looking. I let my gaze travel lightly across the page to catch a word with the least intentionality. his method was bound to be more sentimental than systematically finding the first chronologically available word.

Progress and Passion

After floating my eyes around for a handful of seconds, they locked in on a word: progressing. I typed it in the comment section of the post. Soon after, the author replied asking if I felt like I was progressing. Given the nature of the page, I answered through the lens of my writing career. “Yes, however minutely, it’s still progress.” But the more I think about progress, the more I’m questioning my reply. What is progress after all? Is it simply moving forward or onwards as dictionaries define? That singular definition doesn’t encapsulate the profundity of the word in my life.

At the dawn of my writing journey, I was invited by a blog to guest post. Completing my word search exercise drew me to my inaugural post in hopes that I would see evidence of progress within my craft. In reading it, I remembered the relief I felt when writing it. Writing has been an expression of my creative side that, if left dormant for too long, lashes out in desperation. The blog found me at such a desperate time and writing the post felt like air rushing into my lungs after surfacing from a deep dive—it was life-giving. The post itself led to more guest posts and I soon became a regular contributor to the blog. That’s progress, is it not?

A Journey of Hope

In a sense, yes. But when I read my first post and compare it with some of my later posts, I see a regression. Some of the topics I write on later don’t exude the same passion. Instead, I see evidence of how I felt when writing them—fizzled out. If I can no longer identify my passion in my art, if my writing is not better in that sense, is it a sign that I’ve fallen out of progress?

Desperate for a more applicable definition of the word, I turned to Merriam-Webster. What I found did not disappoint: progress is “a gradual betterment¹.” A betterment! It’s not just moving forward but moving forward towards good things.

Betterment alludes to hope. It alludes to the past, with echoes of painful seasons of growth. For to be better means what preceded it was worse. It reveals progress as a non-linear journey. It ebbs, flows, endures rapids, and at times even cascades down falls. Yes, it is forward moving, but it is not simple. It is forgiveness. It is perseverance.

Courage to Expand Opportunities

A gradual betterment gives space for the lumps and bumps in ironing out a career. So, yes, I suppose I can consider my journey as one that is still progressing. In writing about topics I’m less passionate about, I’m exercising writing muscles that will allow me to expand my opportunities.

It’s time to learn to trust the process of progress. Much like my approach to the word search, I’ll find my progress by skimming over the whole picture and keeping myself open to finding my betterment, like complete words, wherever it appears among the scrambled letters, amid my growing moments.

What is your experience with progress? Where do you want to make progress?

Please join the conversation and leave a comment for Stephanie below. Thank you.

Learn more about Stephanie and her writing services at Words and S’mores.

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