Last week, my husband and I took our almost 3 year old Little Miss to the beach in Gulf Shores, along with two of our good friends. Little Miss had been to the same beach back in September, and wouldn't so much as set her big toe in the ocean. We assumed nothing had changed.
Well, you know what happens when you assume ;)
Well, you know what happens when you assume ;)
We took her down to the ocean the first evening when we got there, all decked out in her Little Mermaid swimsuit, sand buckets and shovel in hand, thinking we would have to coax her close to the water just to get a pic. Well, she showed us - she took off straight toward the waves. HAHA! We had to scramble to catch her. She darted in and out of the waves, back and forth, shouting "Great Scott! I'm in the water!" like she heard on her favorite Oswald & Weenie cartoon (Henry the Penguin says this, because he doesn't like to get his feathers wet...)
She was absolutely giddy and hysterical, and had a blast. We had a blast too, though we had to watch her a lot more carefully than I anticipated. We ended up digging her a hole in the wet sand right at the water's edge, where she could sit and occasionally get a little wet and scoop water into her buckets and be content.
It made me think about how far we can come in such a short time. In less than a year, my baby girl went from being terrified of the ocean to incredibly brave - maybe even too much. ha! Where have you come in your writing in the past year? What doors have been opened, what nudges have been given to you that pushed you out of your comfort zone? For me, it's been speaking. I used to freeze up at the sight of a microphone, much less talk into one in front of people, all waiting for me to wow them. But now, while I still get a few nerves in my tummy, I actually look forward to and enjoy teaching and speaking on writing and on the Lord. I went from camping out waaaaaay up on the shore to diving straight into the breakers. (figuratively, because I refuse to go into the ocean past my waist ::wink::)
Do you need to test the waters today? Are you holding back from fear, insecurity, lack of trust? Or are you ready to dive in, splash around, and have some fun with Little Miss? :)
Such cute pictures! And that is a great analogy. I'm not sure my writing has changed that much over the past year. I'm still in high school, so while I dream about my stories all the time, I never actually have much time to write. Hopefully I'll be able to look back at this point next year and say how much I've grown and how deep I dove into the waves! :)
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I'm sure you will :) You already have the desire to, and that's the biggest part! You can do it!
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