Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Next Right Thing: Why the next right thing?

The Next Right Thing: Why the next right thing?: Welcome to my inaugural blog...gulp! I decided to embark on this blog as a step in moving toward a calling that has been nagging at me for...

Why the next right thing?

Welcome to my inaugural blog...gulp!

I decided to embark on this blog as a step in moving toward a calling that has been nagging at me for over a year now.  I felt moved, pulled, called, driven to write a book.  That was over a year ago.  In the time between the inspiration hitting and now, I have spent many hours attempted to write said book.  The truth is I've written the book many times in my head, but when I go to put it to paper I freeze.  I know what I need to say, I know it needs to be said, I even know how to say it, but when it comes down to it I'm terrified to say it.  Those of you who know me well are acutely aware of my ability to face life head on.  In most situations I am blessed with a courage to push through fear and move forward.  One of my favorite and often repeated quotes (both internally and to other) is: 

"Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the determination that something else is more important"...Ambrose Redmoon

In fact if you know anything about my life, you know that a blinking cursor on a computer screen is minute compared to the mountains climbed and the valley's crossed.  In some ways that is why it has taken me so long to acknowledge...I'm afraid!  Of course the truth is I'm not afraid of the computer.  After a PhD program, a monster dissertation, and journal articles, the computer is now part of the family.  I'm afraid of being vulnerable.  Gulp! 

No I'm not writing a memoir.  My life's not THAT interesting, but I'm not writing a research piece either. I'm writing a book that is informed by my clinical work and my academic knowledge but also my lived experience.  To come alive the book requires....a piece of me. 

So how did I climb those mountain and walk through those valley?  I just kept doing the next right thing, and before I knew it I was on the other side.  So this blog is step one in harnessing "the determination that something else is more important." :)