You are here, reading this sentence because you are ready to hear something you haven't necessarily been ready to hear before.
I feel nervous about saying it so I am just going to say it.
It is time for you to be bold enough to write your next chapter of your life. I know because it is also time for me to write the next chapter of my life.
Two years ago I was diagnosed with melanoma.
It was among the scariest experiences in my life.
Remember: we are the ones writing our next chapter.
I did what I often do when I am faced with something difficult: I retreated. I pulled back from a lot of my regular activities. In many respects I stopped acting like myself.
No one pulled me aside and said, “Julie, you aren’t acting like yourself. What’s up?”
What would have happened if they had?
What would have happened if I listened?
I might have said, “I just don’t feel like it, ya know? I’m consciously taking a break.”
This was true.
And it wasn’t.
I didn’t need to wait for someone else to pull me aside, anyway: I ended up pulling myself aside. If I was one to use sports analogies I might say, “I picked up a bat, warmed up with a couple of swings and then walked up to the plate. I was willing to strike out or foul out or run as fast as I could to first base. The fact was, I stood at the plate and I swung my bat when the pitch came my way.”
It takes boldness to step up to the plate.
There have been times I just didn’t feel like going back up there again. I would rather sit in the dug out or better yet, not show up to the playing field at all.
There is power, though, in getting up to the plate especially when one doesn’t feel like being there in the first place. It is easier to take that first at bat than to get up there and face those pitches over and over again.
I may not be one to use sports analogies, but today it works.
Even though I didn’t feel like writing with sports analogies, perhaps you’ll quietly enjoy the double metaphor.
I had melanoma. I am scarred. It is perfectly fine to have scars. I can choose whether to play again or not. Choosing to play is more satisfying. Choosing to play using sports analogies actually makes me smile.
All is well.
Consider now the way this story fits alongside a story in your life when you walked off the playing field, turned away from what you loved and temporarily (or not so temporarily) opted out.
We all have our reasons.
We also all have our choices to opt back in.
What is calling you back?
Perhaps asking this question and reading this essay is your first inkling of what life is calling you to do, who your life is calling you to be either for the first time or perhaps for this new time.
You may be scarred. It is perfectly fine to have scars. You get to choose whether to play again or not.
I believe in you.
Your scars make you even more beautiful than you were before.
Add action to your choice and begin once again.
= = = =
Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Coming soon - more creativity camps, playgrounds and workshops to grow yourself artistically (and hey, just for fun!)
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