Mrs. Etheridge introduced me to the poems of Emily Dickinson; I instantly fell in love. Those poems, first experienced in that junior high English class, have stayed in my heart and their interpretations have matured along with me.
As a private and introverted person I connected to Dickinson’s “I’m nobody!”
I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d banish — you know!
How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one’s name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
So, how do I go from not wanting to be “public like a frog” to writing a blog (no rhyme intended) and sharing my life? It’s been a long journey that’s taken me to the cliff’s edge, where I’ve contently camped out for too long. Then recently my son, Drew, gave me a push, a loving push, and I took the leap. You see, I love to write. I have always loved writing. Despite this love, I’ve used my desire for privacy as an excuse to keep from openly sharing my stories. … but wait, just like any good infomercial, there’s more … My greatest obstacles are connected to vulnerability and the fear of failure. It is not that I am a fearful person. I have pursued goals and faced adversity. I am not opposed to daring greatly. But, for me, daring to write is altogether different. It is personal. It is revealing. It has the potential to make me vulnerable.
Have you ever had a dream that you were afraid to pursue? Writing is mine. What if I try and find I am a miserable failure? Even worse, what if I fail and no longer have that grand-secret-dream tucked away in my hip pocket, the one I take out and periodically admire? Fear. Vulnerability. They keep us stuck, frozen in place, until something or someone pushes us off the cliff. For me that someone is my grown son, who suggested the blog, encouraged me, encouraged me some more, and then finally set up the webpage. My feet are no longer on solid ground. I’ve left its security and constraints behind!
What’s hiding in your hip pocket?
What is beyond your cliff’s edge?
Take The Leap
