Hey Ya’ll, It’s a New Year

That title sounds so Southern.  But hey, I was born and raised deep in the heart of Texas so I guess that makes me a Southerner – and I am so proud of it!  Okay, let’s get down to the real nitty gritty.  The year 2015 is now chronicled as history as we enter into a brand new year.  Yeah 2016!!!  Many of us have hopes, dreams and ideas that have been percolating in our minds for a while but we have been too afraid to venture past our comfort zone.   I often hear it said that we are afraid of success and I don’t whole heartedly agree with that assessment.   I think many of us are more afraid of failure than we are of success.   The very thought that our ‘baby’ (you know that idea/dream you want to give birth to) might encounter rejection elicits protection strong enough to hold that baby close and shield it from criticism.   But ladies, we gots to birth that baby.   If we don’t then we are setting our hopes and dreams up for failure.

I want to write.  I love to write but I don’t have a writing pedigree – not one that is easily recognized by employers.   My writing pedigree is derived by the desire to link words together and create a poem or story that can elicit laughter, tears and yes, criticism.   But I am scared mainly because of the negative chatter I have allowed in my head.  Chatter such as:  “What if my comma placement is off” – and it often is?  “What if no one gets what I am trying to say?” “What if I am not as good a writer as I think I am?”.  And the list goes on.  Once I joined a writing group hoping to develop my skills and my writing-esteem.  The experience was awful.  Some of the group members judged your work on how they judged you.  If they didn’t like you, they didn’t like your work.  And, while I think I am soft spoken, easy going and an all-around introvert who tries to treat people they way I want to be treated, somewhere along the way I have failed miserably.   This group did not care for anything that I wrote.  I mean not anything.  Since I considered them as my peers, some of them had even been published, I wanted desperately for them to like my stuff.  I am not a good candidate for abuse so you know I had to let those pigeons fly away.   But before I opened the coop, my writing-esteem built a dam around my creative store of words that originally flowed like water in a stream. I found myself stuck, bound, inhibited and afraid to write.

But heeeyyyy!  I’m back.  I am not making any resolutions, I am making promises.   To me resolutions are the lie you tell yourself with good intent.  A promise is binding and when I make a promise I keep it.

Yes, it is a brand new year which affords change, acceptance and even motivation.  Whatever has caused you to be afraid to step out and make your hopes and dreams a reality needs to receive an eviction notice.  It can be procrastination bound by excuses dealing with time and/or money; it can be doubt and fear of rejection.  It can be people, places or just stuff.  Either way, an eviction notice is in order.  Jeremiah 29:11 says He knows the plans He has for us.  So let’s get out of the way and trust in the process.

Repeat after me…

I issue this eviction notice to negative chatter, fear, lack and whatever else I am allowing to hold my hopes and dreams prisoner.  From this day forth I will work toward not allowing fear to determine my success.  From this day forth I will do something that moves me toward my destiny each and every day.  I promise this to myself!

Now come on ya’ll, let’s get this party started.

Ciao for now…

SoniaJ