Don't let this happen

A friend of mine posted this quote on Facebook this week, and the moment I read it - it was as if a stadium of people stood up in my head and cheered, "YES!" and "THIS!" and "BRAVOOO!", each exclamation repeating over and over in my head as I read and re-read the quote all week long. Written by the most brilliant and giftedly insightful Anne Lamott, it sort of became my instant mantra . . . so much so, that I immediately shared it with my Facebook friends.

 

I can imagine a large art piece with this very quote hanging on a wall in our home. . . not that I want to entertain visitors with thoughts of my jiggly thighs or comfortable tummy . . . but because the meaning behind it all is so damn near perfect.

"Don't let that happen," she tells us.

"Don't forget to live that big, juicy, creative life."

YES!!

I think it is so fitting for me right now, because at some point during the last year - I think I forgot.

Seriously.

Can you imagine?

Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of it - that big, juicy creative life I was living. Somewhere along the way, I got a little serious. I stopped laughing at my husbands jokes, I started 'shhh-ing' my daughters when they were having a tickle contest, and starting looking forward to the time when I could fall asleep - instead of finding joy in being awake. I starting stressing over what this one or that one said, instead of telling those very people to keep their toxic thoughts to themselves. Somewhere along the way, I stopped writing from my heart and lost my words. I worried more about what others might "think", instead of being honest with my own self. Somewhere along the way, I feel like I lost my TRUTH. Who I wanted to be. What my wish was.

Oh, I know what happened. And it's not that it was a bad thing. It was just that 'life' got in my way. It happens to us all - when we focus so much on the day to day stuff (the job, the house, the spouse, the kids, the bills, the holidays, the cooking, the cleaning, the . . . living . . . ), that it becomes easier to move our true self and our dreams to the back burner, often times turning the heat 'off' and waiting for a more convenient time to start the fire again. They sit back there and get a little cold - and patiently wait for an Anne Lamott quote, perhaps, to warm them up again.

But when the fire starts . . . it feels so good. It's like a wake up call. Like a, "Hello!! Remember me? Your creative soul? Yep - I'm here!!"

So, I kind of feel like I am re-focusing this week - like a sort of re-birth. Because Lord knows, I don't want to be 65 or 75 and wake up some day to realize that I spent my life focused on things like perfectionism or people-pleasing.

Nope.

I don't want that . . . at all.

So, for now, I am listening to the cheers in my head, and taking a big step in the right direction.

And as always, I thank YOU for being with me along the way.

Peace, my friends.
xo xo
-L