Finding a Path Forward

This is a beautiful piece of writing. So many things So Relatable writes speak to me — her blog post about losing her dog got me through losing Beorn — but this in particular got under my skin.

She writes about having a singular dream and angling her whole life toward it. Sound familiar, friends? You grow up thinking you will do X, you do everything you can to achieve X, it feels like you may even be close to achieving X. But you don’t. And then you need to figure out what comes next. She writes:

I needed time and space to figure out if the dream I’d been clinging to for over 20 years was still possible, still relevant. And if it wasn’t, I needed to figure out what could take its place.

She’s talking about publishing, but I think it’s applicable to many dreams that are out there that are beyond your control. Even though she found a path forward where she could be creative without the publishing gatekeepers, she feels the weight of the old dream:

But that old goal still hung heavy over my head, and it made every step toward something new feel like failure. I was ready to loosen my grip on the past so I could reach for something else.

She is such a talented, smart writer. She always makes me think, and I’m grateful that she keeps resharing the lessons she has learned.