Can 43-year-olds have growth spurts? This week my son was exhibiting the classic signs of a growth spurt: insatiable hunger, complete exhaustion, and right around your birthday or half birthday. I’m eating my way through my days, I’ve felt completely drained, and I’ve just had a birthday. I’m just sayin’, it’s lookin’ like an adult growth spurt. I’m also brimming with emotion. Parents on the sideline unassumingly inquire, “So, how ya doin’, Mags?” Do they really want to know? I’m not sure I have tissues with me.

This week I’ve been questioning, How does one follow-up a Powerhouse Manifesto? My answer: With the exact same honesty with which she wrote it.

The photo above represents how I feel this week. Tears are welling up and popping out of me like sparks. (And it’s not lady hormones, it’s something else). Because I’m a card-carrying member of the “So, what are you going to do about it?” club, every part of me wants to get to the bottom of why I’m so verklempt.

This is what I came up with. I knowingly placed myself in the fire to change shape. I think when you put yourself through that process, sparks are gonna fly. Change and growth don’t scare me, it’s that I naturally feel exposed by what I’ve put out into the world. Shapeshifting comes with heat and hits. I know that before long, I’ll cool down, and when that happens—I get to go through life as the same old metal but in a whole new shape.