“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” ~Mary Tyler Moore
Literally, some of the best advice I’ve gleaned in my life came from women who took chances and made mistakes. Some I knew personally, and some I never met. Each one failed plenty before they succeeded, because we really do have to meet with some manner of disaster in order to practice being brave enough to try again. This is true in so many places in my life. Sports, photography, cooking, parenting…my faith. I mean…I have failed at so many things in my first 50 years that it’s a wonder I even made it this far. And yet…here I am!
Having survived my 50th trip around the sun just yesterday – oh yah…I’m 50 years and a day old – I have spent some time reflecting on the journey, and the various mishaps that often shaped, and intermittently revealed who I am. Has it been painful? Sometimes. Did I occasionally get lost along the way? Absolutely! But have there been moments of bravery that I didn’t expect? Definitely! In all honesty, starting this blog happens to fall into at least two, and probably all three of those categories. Bless someone’s heart! I have been threatening to do this for years, and anytime I said it out loud, people in my life encouraged me. Nah…nobody’d really be interested. I don’t have time. I don’t know what to say. I’m a long way from being tech savvy enough to build my own site, let alone keep up with blogging. Seriously, if I could have sold my excuses for why I shouldn’t do this, I’d be the on the Fortune 500 fastest growing list, and would have already hired someone to start it for me!
I love words and how they can fabricate a tapestry of emotions, transport you to a different time or place, and even make you question your own thought process. I dabbled with journaling – that helped me work through plenty of teenage angst back in the day. We all know this translates to “Dear Diary…” I was on our school newspaper and the yearbook staff in high school, and as an adult, I have used writing in nearly every job I held – from editing lectures for an international speaker, to creating weekly newsletters and daily correspondence in a school’s athletic department. I have done more personal writing with my ‘Thankful November’ posts on Facebook for several years, and it always feels pretty good to manifest my gratitude out loud. In fact, those posts are what have most recently prompted me to finally make a run at this. Well…those posts, and the fact that most of my excuses disappeared in the pandemic.
Full transparency though? The thought of writing regularly – out in public – about whatever comes to mind – is terrifying to me! Not that I don’t have plenty to say…obviously, but what if nobody cares? Or scarier yet…what if people DO care? As Mary said at the beginning of this rant, you have to fail in order to practice being brave. I quote other people often, because there are so many folks who are smarter than me, and other people’s wisdom often sounds better than my own. I enjoy it when someone else’s wisdom causes me to think deeper or consider another angle. However, while I love a good quote, they can be a tremendous pain in the hind end when they get used against me. Or in this case…FOR me. There are plenty of other quotes about this:
- “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” ~Michael Jordan
- “Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn.” ~John C. Maxwell
- “Bravery is the audacity to be unhindered by failures, and to walk with freedom, strength and hope in the face of things unknown.” ~Morgan Harper Nichols
There are so many, but the first two came to my mind because they are familiar – I have used them on friends, family, student athletes, and my own child – many times. That third one is new to me, as is the author, but I will most certainly be adding it to my repertoire! Also, it pointed a red flashy arrow back up to Mary’s words, and I’m pretty sure that was no accident. I find that when something is supposed to be, there are typically signs all around us pointing to that thing, and if we pretend we don’t notice those signs, they tend to get bolder and brighter, until they are blinking in neon. You know…like how the flight attendants remind you during the emergency lecture “strips of lights will illuminate the cabin floor; white lights lead to red, and red lights lead to exits.” – or something like that. I haven’t actually traveled by plane in a while so…
All that to say…Hello! My name is Wendy, and this is my new blog. I hope you will consider this a personal invitation to join me in a little chance taking and mistake making, with a side of courage, minimal pain, hopefully laughter…and with any luck…growth.
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