Friday, July 12, 2013

A-tisket, a-tasket, have you lost your basket?

Michelle Ward, of "When I Grow Up", has written a(nother) blog post that really resonated with me.  In it she speaks of the ease with which dreams slip away, leaving empty goals, plans, and to-do lists in their stead.  But goals, plans, and to-do lists without passion are like high-performance vehicles without fuel:  we find ourselves sitting on the shoulder of the freeway, wondering what the heck happened.

It happens so easily.  We start out excited, with our basket full of goodies, and as life knocks us around a bit, stuff falls out of the basket.  Sometimes we try to pick up them up, but another obstacle appears, and we miss a goodie or two.  Other times, we are so preoccupied with the challenge before us that we don't even notice what fell out until it's way behind us on the road.

I've felt that way.  Heck, I feel that way.  I love all things artistic, but, when times are lean, jobs are at an ebb rather than flow, and rent-day is coming up, sometimes I just absentmindedly put my basket by the side of the road and wander off.  I make plans to get things moving again, I add a bunch of rational items to my already-long to-do list, and declare myself "productive."  It certainly does make me "busy", but without dreams, passion, and joy pushing me forward, the work becomes an empty exercise.

So it's important to go back and get that basket of goodies.  Sit down with it, and look through it.  You will, undoubtedly, come across some things that you forgot were there.  You may even find some things that some kind soul has put there to help you on your journey.

If you need me, I'll be over here - sitting quietly by the side of the road, looking through my basket.

--Nicole

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you - your comment will appear as soon as it is approved by the moderator!