It’s time to finish it.
A few weeks ago, I began my 47th year walking through the B concourse of the Atlanta airport. It was just before dawn; the sun had yet to rise, and my bright yellow carry-on (borrowed from my husband) rolled along beside me. This past year has been one of the more difficult ones, but as I glanced at the clock on the wall, the feeling of a new day washed over me.
I was headed to a writer's retreat, my final flight destination: Minneapolis. My writing mentor Kate Hopper, who led the retreat, picked me up from the airport and we drove to the lodge in rural Wisconsin.
It was a homecoming of sorts, the first time I'd seen many of these women in person since 2019. It felt like a gift to prepare meals together, to hug them hello and goodbye.
As we shared our stories in this sacred space, I felt a slow return to myself. Writing always offers a pathway back.
I have a story to tell, it will not let me go. Even as I was living it decades ago, I knew it was a story I'd share one day.
Even as the book holds on to me, I realized recently that I've been holding on too. I've built an identity around “writing” the book. I've been hesitant to cross over. I don't know what's on the other side, and it's safer over here. This is the world I know.
It's time to let it go.
As in, it's time to finish it.
Finishing has been my focus for the past month, and finishing will continue to be my focus for the rest of 2021. Finishing will be my focus until it is finished.
Finished doesn't mean published, there are so many steps! But finished means releasing an old identity so I can step into the life that's waiting for me. It's time to be who I am now. I've stayed in this place, on this side of writing the book, long enough. It's time to see, and live, the life that's on the other side.
Sometimes we're in a holding pattern, holding back, keeping ourselves safe, and then something just clicks. And you know it's time to act.
Is there something you're ready to prioritize? Something you're ready to finish? I'm here to encourage you!
