Bored Panda reached out to the social media influencer Izzy Shea with 811.9K followers on TikTok, whose clip sparked the new transformation trend on the social media channel. Izzy told us that she shared her now-viral video “to show the way I’ve changed and focused on self-love over the years.”

However, she also added that the transformation journey is not over yet. “I’m still on it mentally and physically. I don’t think it will ever be over as I think there’s always room to grow as a person. I'm just ready for the next chapter of my life and what it will bring.”

Izzy said she was absolutely overwhelmed with “so much amazing and positive feedback on my video, which made me happy as I think many people felt inspired by my growth of self-appreciation.” When asked what she’d like to tell her old self, Izzy said it’s “to be patient and learn self-love from within first as it radiates over anything else.”

It’s incredible when you think about how much we all change with time. Do a simple trick—open a selfie with your best friend from five years ago. You do know it’s you and your buddy, but at the same time, it no longer feels like you and that difference is hard to pin down.

It’s because living means experience and experiences measure time. So the changes that we see outside are often very internal: the places you visited, the things you did, people you met, accomplishments you made, and failures you dealt with pave their way to your self-identity in a way nothing does.

Any emotion, good or bad, implies a change. Think of the breakup you had, and your newly found crush that makes you feel alive again. A relatively short period of time can be between them, but regardless, they have altered your state of being and made you stronger. Incredibly, all this happens without us even realizing it!

In that sense, time does never pass in vain, as they say. Even though years, months, and decades are all relative, they bear a different kind of significance. Thus, most people would rather measure time in key events that leave a mark on their lives. Some of these fade away with time, while others, more significant milestones, stay forever.