DEPARTURE
By the time you read this I will be gone. Flying swiftly through the clouds, heavenwards…. on a plane of course. Sean and I will be on our way to El Paso, Texas, where we will be working for a week. This will be my second time and I’m excited to go back and feel that Texas air. As a kid, I was obsessed with cowboys, so I always wanted to go to Texas. I feel like a kid every time I enter that state!
As I have been preparing to leave, I started to think about the idea of departure- departing from a place you once arrived. I think it’s easy to always think about arriving. Arriving at success, arriving at mastery of a skill, arrive at a dream come true, arriving at being recognized in your industry. The question is always, “Where am I going next?” Always wanting, always striving for the next new possibility. In the process of always wanting to arrive, I forget to ask the question, “What am I departing from?” What if there are areas in your creative life that need to be left behind? What if you are trying to arrive on a process or idea that only feeds old patterns? It’s important to arrive, but it’s equally important to know when you as a person need to make a choice to depart of old systems or patterns that once worked, but now have grown stale and merely utilitarian.
When you leave behind the stagnant ground of unproductive patterns and/or ideas, you free yourself to actually arrive at new inspiration and expressions!
If you are like me, I often don’t know what areas have long since grown stagnant, it’s hard to tell when it’s all you know. Stepping away to gain perspective is vital. Take a break, ask yourself hard questions like; Is this life giving? Am I growing and being challenged? Is this pushing me towards my bigger vision and career as a creative? Questions like these, that are answered honestly, will tell you a lot if it’s time to depart old patterns and seek new ground.
Try new things! I recently picked up the ukulele because a friend told me I should try it. I fell in love with it. I would have never guess I would love to play ukulele unless I put myself in front of it and tried it. Try things you would have never expected to like, and try things that peak your interest!
"Find what scares you- and go right at it" - Sean
Lastly ask yourself what scares you. What are you afraid of? Fear can be a valuable signal of where you have been holding back. Like a smoke signal on a battlefield, it signals where immediate support and help is needed. Sean once said, “Find what scares you- and go right at it.” That has always resonated deeply with me. Find what scares you, and in that fear you will see your weakness. Identify an area that may require you to face head-on those fears by taking a departure from the safety of well worn out paths and the arrival into rugged and wild, new territory full of untamed and unexplored expectation of what could be!