Today's Word-Love Word of the Day is RARE!
I have often thought “unusual” was a polite, code word for “weird”
made up by the same people who whisper “cancer” for fear it may be catching.
Today in my handy junior thesaurus (I gleaned it recently at a used book sale) told me rare is both treasured and unusual. It is unique and often a one-of-a-kind, like the statue of liberty. Outstanding is rare. Precious is rare. Importance and excellence and yes, outstanding is rare.
So if I am “unusual”, I am also precious, outstanding, important and excellent.
All those other things I thought about being odd or weird or different simply mean I am special – I am precious – I am outstanding.
Any other meaning is just made up by my insecurities those people who whisper “cancer” don’t have anything to do with, I have everything to do with because I am the one who conjures up the meaning. I may feel a slight from those people, but since I am not one of them, they may feel uncomfortable with my outstanding nature. They would rather be cookie cutter people. I would rather be as uncommon as the Edelweiss plant in the United States and as precious as an expensive, high quality diamond.
Imagine: I gained all of this because I love words – and am choosing to pluck a word-a-day from my thesaurus and dictionary several times a week.
Imagine: I was so angry yesterday because my computer swallowed this blog post before I had the chance to hit “save” so I lost the entire thing and all of this is a rewrite. On reflection, I believe it is a better rewrite than the first try.
Imagine: I am now smiling because I had written in my notebook key sentences and phrases, so the fact I had to create a “do over” word of the day essay really turned out to be a pleasure, rather than a bother.
Some people claim a “right” to be angry and they allow unpleasant words to gurgle up and spill all over everyone who surrounds them. I would rather step away, take a breath, and start over than actually cause damage to others because I am not taking the time to take a breath before I toss ugly words all over my environment.
Yesterday I was frustrated. I wrote what I thought was an introduction to this essay. I just edited that introduction out of the finished piece. It isn’t word-love when it is whiney and fault finding.
Interesting, this uncommon experience of losing a post has actually made me feel so empowered because the simple choices I made. Naturally because I am posting these “Word-Love Word of the Day” essays, if you ever experience a similar situation, you can learn from my experience in three simple steps.
- I stayed calm and didn’t slap any labels on the experience such as “I am so stupid!” or “I can’t believe I did that!”
- I stepped away from that particular creative process to gain perspective and rebirth the desire to get these words written. Instead of this process, I worked on several art projects instead, wordless projects, “language free” projects.
- I returned here in the early morning. The sun is rising as I write, I haven’t even spoken to anyone yet today. That is in itself a rare experience but is here because it is Spring break and I gave this priority a high spot on my list.
Best wishes to you outstanding ones reading here today. I look forward to hearing how you shift in your thinking about "odd" and "weird" and the choices you make differently because you take a breath, leave and return to begin again.
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