Over the past three weeks, I stood on stage in 10 different cities all across the US and spoke the same words:
We wait on a permission that never comes. We put these dreams of ours on hold because we tell ourselves "who am *I* to want this." Who am I to ask for more? And yet, I can promise you this. No one is ever going to come knock on your door, pick up the phone and call you, or send you an email saying now, NOW, you get to go chase your dreams. You have to find a way to be that permission for yourself.
I spoke these words. Wrote these words. Know them well.
And yet.
Ohhhh what is it with "and yet."
And yet, at night when we would sit on the bus saying out loud what all of our own What's Nexts are, I would become my own card-carrying member of what I have been calling the "But I...Generation". But I... have always run a photography blog. But I...might have to get a separate site and a separate brand. But I....don't know if I have time to write that much. But I....don't know if anyone would even read it. I would lay on the floor of the bus with my head propped up on Cooper's belly, dreaming big dreams and waiting for someone else to tell me that it was time. And then I would stare up into the faces of some of my best friends on the planet, people who all love me enough to remind me to take my own advice: Mary, you have to be that permission for yourself.
So here it is.
My What's Next is to take what I started on the tour and continue it here on this blog. To write like I talk. To do the work that matters daily, not just for three weeks out on a bus. To write about fear and excuses and getting things done. To write about what's holding us back. To write about leaving something behind. And just how short this one wild & precious life really is.
My whole life I have wanted to be a writer who writes words that matter. And guess what....the rest of my whole life? It's made up of todays.
So today I want to challenge you. If one too many times lately you've been finding yourself sitting by the proverbial phone waiting for permission to ring, today I want to challenge you to make the call yourself. Be willing to get up off the floor, stop looking to everyone around you for the answers, and go knock on (or knock down) the doors that really need to be opened. And send the messages that most need to be heard.
Today, I want you to be willing to give yourself permission. Because at the end of the day, you're the only one who can.
Go get it,
M:)
A question & a contest!! What would you most love to do if the But I's weren't getting in the way? Tell us your answer in the comments below & one lucky big dreamer is going to win $25 to Starbucks... I know that's the stuff my dreams are made of! :P
Get Fired Up
