Life has a way of testing us. Sometimes it feels like every single door slams shut just as we get close enough to walk through it. Opportunities vanish. Dreams stall. People say no. And with each door closing, it’s easy to start believing that maybe you’re not meant to find your way forward. But here’s the truth: closed doors don’t mean failure. They mean redirection. Each “no” teaches you something—patience, resilience, or a lesson you didn’t know you needed. Sometimes those shut doors are protecting you from something you can’t yet see. They force you to pause, to grow, and to prepare for the right opportunity. And then one day, it happens. A door swings open—not just a crack, but wide and welcoming. It’s the door you’ve been waiting for, the one that makes every past rejection make sense. Suddenly, the timing is right, the opportunity fits, and you’re ready to walk through with everything you’ve learned from the struggle. That one open door can change everything. So if you’re standing in a hallway full of slammed doors, don’t lose hope. Keep knocking, keep trying, keep showing up. The right door is already waiting—you just haven’t reached it yet. And when it opens? You’ll realize every single closed door was part of the journey that brought you there. 

Christie Nichols