I don’t know about you, but I grew up in a fairly strict
household. As I child, I needed
permission to fart if you want the honest truth. It was all about permission. If I close my eyes, I can recall the long
walk down the upstairs hallway to my parent’s bedroom, the churning of my stomach
wanting badly the answer to my question to fall in my favor. It was a high school party with no parents. I
don’t have to tell you the answer to the above request. It was always, “No”, or “Are the parents
going to be at home?”
As you know, I’ve been researching the 16th
century for a novel. I’ve been
struggling lately to just get into a groove.
When you live at the beach, work a demanding full-time job that pays the
bills, the last thing I want to do is struggle at the one thing I want to do. Yet, I do.
So many individuals have come up to me or emailed me with encouraging
words, but some say, “I wish I had your
life.” What is not apparent is the
struggle that comes with the disciple of honoring one’s craft. Everyone gets fascinated with the possible outcome,
impressed with the disciple and often frustrated with the lack of engagement as
the characters in my novel take over a large portion of my life.
I realized today, that my parent’s permission has not been
needed in a long time. It is I that hold
the permission back from my own self these days. Why is that?
As a woman, I have choices that my grandmother did not have and
especially my great-grandmother. I have
choices at my figure tips. Yet, so many
times I’ve chosen the short gratification path rather then invest in honing my
greatest love; producing a story and giving birth to it.
Why do we need to give ourselves permission? Permission is
important because it gives us the freedom to pursue our quest, our heart’s desire,
what we alone can only accomplish.
So, I give myself permission knowing it comes with FEAR,
STRUGGLE, SELF-DOUBT, FAILURE, CRITICISM AND MOST LIKELY SOME OTHER HORRIBLE
THINGS THAT I CAN’T IMAGE AT THIS POINT IN TIME. Yet, even knowing that this quest comes
with all of these possible pit falls, the story still must be born.
I was just thinking that maybe those reading this blog might
need permission, too. So, I give it to
you. What is your quest? But, mostly importantly, what are you waiting
for? All it takes is one courageous step
to begin. I hope you take.. and if you
need a little nudge, I’m here for you, because I know for a fact, they’ll be
some days I’ll need a definite push!
I leave you with this quote today. My good friend Brene Brown via Erin Tetterton
introduced it to me many years ago:
“It is
not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man
stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs
to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and
sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and
again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself
in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
know neither victory nor defeat.”
by Theodore Roosevelt
Whether you use today to
engage in your quest or not… whatever you do, do it DARING GREATLY!
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