Earlier this week, blogger Susie Lindau hosted another of her zany “Use Me and Abuse Me” days, which isn’t quite as painful as it sounds! Susie has a gajillion followers, and on “Use Me” days, she asks everyone to bring a link from their blog, post it in her comment section, and then get click happy. It’s a great way to meet new bloggers and catch some different viewpoints.
I joined in, sharing my “Bloom Where You’re Planted” post of earlier this month. I got some nice comments, including one from Karen (check out her great post “Do Losers Make the Best Parents?”) and another from Lisa, blogger at “Nowhere to Run” who commented about “wishing she could figure out what she’s supposed to ‘be’” in life. Seems my “Bloom” post resonated with her, for which I’m thankful.
Robin Roberts
Speaking of “being,” this month’s Good Housekeeping magazine features a story about Robin Roberts, host of ABC’s Good Morning America program, and her battle with myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow failure disorder. Without treatment, Roberts’s doctor gave her one to two years to live. This news came at the same time that Good Morning America supplanted NBC’s Today show as the #1 morning news program, leaving Roberts, in her words, “on an emotional roller coaster.”
Unwilling to dampen her coworkers’ spirits with her difficult news, Roberts went to their celebratory party, appreciative of the people who made the show’s success possible. At that point, she said something very interesting, something that tied in perfectly with my “Bloom” post.
“It wasn’t how I’d imagined it, sitting secretly with my heartbreaking news, but I prayed it was for every one of them,” she writes. “And I could say that I’d truly enjoyed the journey, because if I’d saved all my joy for the destination, I would have missed it. We are all so focused on getting ‘there,’ but a lot of times, ‘there’ ends up feeling different than you expected. I thanked the good Lord that He’d allowed me to live long enough to see that special moment.”
Wow. That’s a strong statement! Often, we do the same thing – we hoard our joy for the destination, forgetting that the work along the way – frustrating or not – brings its own rewards. I’m writing a series of humorous essays, titled The Green Hornet Suit and Other Musings. Sure, I imagine the day I finish the book and see it in print, but Roberts’s words reminded me that my writing journey is part of the process. My friends Barbara and Cassy often talk of their work in writing and painting as a journey, something that unfolds as they go.
People like to rush through things, though. It seems that’s just the way we’re wired, and today’s world encourages this behavior. We all need to be reminded to pause and enjoy where we’re at, to remove our focus from the destination. As this week unfolds, take time to do this. Whether you’re writing, working on a work deadline that seems all-consuming, or delivering the mail, take your eyes from the finish line and look around – let me know what you see, too!
For extra insight, I encourage you to visit The Simply Luxurious Life, written by Shannon Ables. She does a great job sharing a fresh definition of luxury, urging readers to create their own “luxury” in their everyday lives. Robin Roberts’s book, Everybody’s Got Something, is out now.
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For the past few months, I’ve been reassessing my blog. It lacks fizz, so it’s time for a change. I originally started my blog with the hope that it would serve as a business platform for my writing.
While that was a secure goal, it didn’t allow enough of my personal writing style to emerge. It kept me playing safe, sharing things like writing tips and grammar rules. Can you say yawn? And you, my trusty and loyal readers, suffered.
