Beloveds, I want to tell you something, and I’d love it if you leaned in and got close. Closer. Yeah, that’s good. Now, listen:
If you are doing something different or new or from your soul: I want you to KEEP GOING, and don’t let the naysayers knock you off course.
If you are letting your heart out via instrument or voice or brush or clay or movement or words, but you’re just learning or off-key or off-balance and honestly not that great at it yet: KEEP GOING.
If you long to fly but the other ducks seem content to keep swimmin’ laps in the same pond, don’t wonder what’s wrong with you, JUST KEEP GOING.
If you know, in the deepest part of your heart, that you’re ready to leap but everybody else around you thinks you ought to stay safe on the platform where you can’t get hurt: go ahead and go. And then KEEP GOING.
If you are finally, after months or years of hand-wringing and second-guessing and hemming and hawing, doing that thing you promised yourself you’d do someday, remember that someday is now and: KEEP GOING.
Well-intentioned people will pop up along your journey and caution you with ideas like, “Don’t bullshit yourself into thinking this will pan out,” or “You’re too old for this,” or even, “Don’t you think it’s time to get a real job?” (People with shitty intentions will say these things, too.) The kind ones (probably) won’t mean to quash your dreams, even if that’s what it will feel like. They will (probably) just want you to have the kind of life that comes with a certain amount of stability and predictability, with enough money in your pocket to pay your rent and buy your groceries and tuck some aside for retirement and rainy days.
And the things they’ll say might cut deep and make you doubt: What if this DOESN’T work? What if I AM too late?? This is the moment, darling, when I need you to dig way deep down inside and remember exactly WHAT you’re made for. Remember WHY you started doing what you’re doing. Remember HOW it is that you want to feel when you’re flying in the sky instead of swimming laps in the tiny pond.
Don’t play into the doubt. JUST KEEP GOING.
It is not too trite to say that you must – MUST! – believe in yourself, because some days you might be the only one doing it. But that’s okay. Because you’ve come this far, and you’ve got farther to go – and, besides, you were made for this.
So make your clothes and write your books and sell your jewelry and pottery and flowers. Offer your expertise. Create your art. Sing your songs. Take your photos. Open your shops. Build your business.
Oh, and when you see another person chasing their dreams, please smile wide and listen in awe at their big plans and show your excitement tell them what I just told you: KEEP GOING.
