EXPLORE, DREAM, AND DISCOVER

This familiar quote is attributed to Mark Twain, and a version of it is propped on my little 104 year-old writing desk:

TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW

YOU WILL BE MORE DISAPPOINTED

BY THE THINGS

THAT YOU DIDN'T DO

THAN BY THE ONES YOU DID DO.

 

EXPLORE.

DREAM.

DISCOVER.

 

I had been dreaming about starting a blog for months.  Or, more honestly, for years.  But each time I made a wild stab at it, I backed myself off.  What if I couldn't do it?  (Blogging oftentimes stretches my technological skills in a painful way.)  What if I could do it, but nobody read it?  (Well, guess what?  I've learned I can survive that.)  What if (the worst here) my friends and acquaintances laughed at me, or just smirked in a superior way, or just thought I was really stupid.  It was definitely time to play it safe and step back from the dream.

 

But Mark Twain's arrival, following a shopping trip at Target, close on the heels of  my 66th birthday combined to create one of those sea changes that seems to leave in its wake either the best of all worlds or the worst.  I took the plunge.  My very first post--which turned out to be not one entry, but two,  because I didn't understand how to place two pictures in the same post--arrived on September 25, 2010. I've continued stabbing at it (on an irregular basis) ever since, and 9.9 times out of 10, I am filled with great joy when I push the "publish" button.  This is where I live.  Well, for a few hours a week anyway.  They're always happy hours (sometimes I crack myself up), but not necessarily easy hours.  I hope they are hours well spent.

 

Recently (70 is approaching this year), I've really begun to realize that if I don't do it now, I'm not going to have the chance to ever do it--whatever "it" turns out to be.  There will be a point when my energy will flag, my eyes will dim, and the cognitive skills I'm trying so hard to hold onto will go to hell.  It's now or never. 

 

To that end, I have begun working with a Life Coach.  Yes, really.  And, I think, this will be the best thing I've ever done for myself.  Even BC was approving...and hopeful, poor soul.  I was nervous as a witch before my first visit with Jay, but he made it so easy the hour flew by.  I took copious notes and religiously followed my list of suggested exercises.  Actually, the exercises weren't suggested.  We decided together as to what I would work on and I am accountable for that.  I'm really much more disciplined when I'm accountable.  I hope that doesn't sound onerous because it's not.  I promise.  It's all good, definitely eye-opening, and up to me.  I like that.  There is a certain feeling of wonder and--even though I'm a bit afraid to think it--power in creating a great life. 

 

At the same time, I'm taking classes that are helping me figure out this whole blogging business.  While I love blogging, I definitely need to do it better.  There is a way and I'm busy with that.  Remember a few paragraphs up when I mentioned that I was afraid my friends might look at me askance if they knew I spent an inordinate amount of time in front of my computer composing little thoughts and stories?  Well, I approached that problem by not telling them.  Simple, huh?  Of course, the whole point of blogging is to have readers, preferably an increasing number of readers, plus lots of followers, and commenters, etc...  I kind of skipped that part in this whole process.  So, now I'm practicing saying:  "Hi, I'm Margie and I'm a blogger."  "I blog for..."  I'm working on that last part and I have notes galore.  It will come.

 

You know, it's not all bad to be closing in on 70 and still excited to see what each day brings.  It's just now 5:00 p.m., and  I think I'll go toast to that thought.