It's okay

I thought long and hard, perhaps just long, about what to write. And of course I procrastinated to the point where I almost wondered if I'd missed my window to write to the list. You sign up, and you know intellectually that someday you'll have to write to everyone, but you figure it will be ages away. You'll have time to think of something.

And then it appears in your inbox asking to speak to hundreds of people. Some of whom will read and smile. And some of whom will think you're a blithering idiot. And some will think you have something interesting to say. And some will delete it without reading. And some won't understand.

And it's okay.

It's okay not to be read. It's okay not to have everything work out as you planned. It's okay not to be liked by everyone.

It's okay. It's okay to be ordinary and not one of the ones winning awards and being on the news and doing Great Things (tm).

I'm only about a week away from turning 40 years old. An age that sits solidly in what most consider middle age. Ancient to the 20 somethings and younger, in the prime of life to those already there and past. I'm not concerned with getting older. I enjoy the experience, the knowledge, the gift of being able to say that I'm closer to a half century of existence than not.

But I haven't done anything spectacular. I haven't devoted my life to curing childhood cancer. I'm not a famous politician or entertainer. I'm not a stunning businessman or scientist. I'm just fairly ordinary.

And that's okay.

I have a calm life, one that is creative and interesting. One that doesn't make for a good answer to that question of 'what's new?' or 'what do you do?' at parties, but one that leaves me generally content.

And that's okay.

So dream big, Do All The Things, but it's /okay/ if that Big Dream is something little and not earth shattering. There's nothing wrong with content.

Take good care of yourself, and remember that Life is Good.


Jazmin
Guelph, ON, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Favorites

This is a puzzle.

Beyond this message a challenge awaits; In the listserve, no links are allowed, what a cruel fate! The first clue must be deciphered by ROT 8. . Let me know and just email if your brain needs a spark Your first clue is just after this punctuation mark / dsoqwj vwxwfvafy lge jgtafkgf af lg cadd s egucafytajv Listserve Puzzle listservepuzzle[AT]gmail.com
Read more

21,612 is a lot

Hi, everyone. I'm a teenaged girl. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I know much about the world. I'm 18, a freshman in college, and I struggle every day trying to see into the future: into what might be, where I might go. Recently I've decided that my destiny in life is to be a high-school biology teacher, but ask me again later and perhaps that will have changed. One thing I feel passionate about is body modification. Somehow my standards of beauty have developed in a way that put piercings, tattoos, implants and scarification at the forefront. However, my parents have threatened to cut off their funding for my education if I modify myself in any way. I already have piercings, and though my family will never see them due to their private locations, I would love to be able to share this important part of my life with them and express myself through modification in a more public way. Essentially, they have rejected my lifestyle, and through this, they have ...
Read more

Tiny wings

Hi all, I want to write about a subject that is very close to my heart - bees! I started bee keeping last year, and have two colonies right now. These two already managed to supply my family and my friends with more than enough honey, and keeping the bees is a tremendously satisfying activity. They smell so good, and are very tidy animals, and are just very, very interesting overall. The insects' way of dealing with the world is just so very different from how we as mammals approach it - it seems almost alien. Anyways, what is probably most impressive is the workload these little animals deal with. For one kilo of honey, they visit 4 million flowers, and fly a distance equivalent of more than 4 times around the earth. Think about that for a second. And then, if you start to think about how they "furniture" their housing themselves by the wax they sweat out, how they can control temperature inside the hive to the tenth of a degree, how they collectively make decisions i...
Read more