Honor the Endless Renewal Within You

My cast came off last week. For one month, I couldn't properly wash my left hand, just my fingers, and not as frequently. I had to protect it during every shower, wrapping it in plastic.

My skin began shedding small, translucent sheets. Dead layers cracking and flaking away that revealed fresh pink skin underneath. At first, it looked diseased, dirty. But as I watched these paper-thin fragments drift to the floor, I realized I was witnessing the constant change in the body in action. This happens every day. I just never see it.

When my hand was functional, the constant friction of daily life (washing dishes, typing, touching surfaces) removed the dead cells as quickly as they formed. Now, with that gentle abrasion gone, weeks of cellular renewal became visible all at once.

Our skin completely replaces itself every four weeks. Our body rebuilds its atomic structure entirely within a year. What you call "your hand" today contains none of the same matter that composed it twelve months ago.