Work made manifest

Stream of consciousness coming your way…

God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is a quote I first heard from Terry Crews, and I’m reminded of it today because for the past two weeks, I’ve made the same excuse to myself to avoid writing: I’m too tired. Although other times I’d come up with something like, “I’m feeling too lost to write anything worth reading.”

But really, I know, I’ve always known, that I was and still am just afraid. Writing means facing my thoughts, all the anxieties, longings, disappointments hidden in the nooks and crannies of my mind. Writing about them makes them real and tangible. But the thing is, they’re real no matter what we do. And it’s only by shaping them into something we can grasp, see, or comprehend that we can begin the process of dealing with them.

The past month has been a series of changes. Changes at work, changes in relationships, changes in the way I feel about what I do, changes in ambition. I hope to one day write about these changes, but right now, it’s just about remembering those words printed above. There are decisions to be made, words to be written, and thoughts to be dealt with. I write this as a reminder to myself and to anyone who might need it, to have courage to do the work that has to be done, to make the choices that have to be made, write what has to be written, and deal with all that needs to be dealt with.