Thursday 7 February 2013

Because sometimes it's worth getting your feet wet.


Hi you.

Warning: This post may contain some tortuous water themed metaphors. Anyone prone to sea sickness should look away now.

Sometimes dry land is the best place to be.

It's safe, sturdy and you, quite literally, know where you stand.

But ... what happens when something you really want is out there? In the water?

By all means you can, and probably do, move yourself as close to the tide as possible, stretching yourself and reaching out as far as you can.

But ... sooner of later you come to realise that you have only 2 options. You can turn around and reach for something closer.

Or you can get your feet wet.
Which is kind of what I've been trying out in recent weeks.

There are certain things that have been on my To Do list for an age. But, for various reasons just kept getting put to the back of the queue. [These are mainly design / creative / blogging related things which I don't want to share until they're all ready. So, please forgive my obtuseness and feel free to just apply my rambling metaphor in anyway you see fit!]

Eventually, I got tired of this and decided that I need to stop thinking I can do everything myself ... and reach out to others who can help me get things crossed off the list!
But the thing with stepping off the shore like that is ... you don't always know what's out there. Lurking. Shark-shaped and waiting to eat you.

And yet ... I realised that it wasn't inevitable I'd end up as shark-bait. After all, I already knew of a pool of fabulously talented supportive creative people.  A pool filled with people I trust and like.

People like you.

People who I wouldn't mind embarrassing myself while splashing and floundering alongside for a while.

So I got my feet wet.

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Now then ... why am I telling you all this? I'm not really sure! [In fact I've almost deleted this post several times!].

But, maybe:
  • there's one of you out there now, feeling the sand between your toes, just waiting to hear that it's sometimes worth taking the next step.
Or maybe it's a reminder that:
  •  we sometimes need to be gentle with ourselves and remember that, to get things done, to achieve, to feel satisfied in life ... we don't necessarily have to hurl ourselves from the safety of our lifeboat directly in the dark and scary deep.
There are friendlier waters out there.

We just need to pick our pool carefully ... and go paddling with friends by our sides.

Julie :-)

9 comments:

  1. ... That made me smile.. I've hurled myself into those dark scary waters so many times.....I'm a bit nibbled around the edges but just keep diving in!

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  2. Be gentle with yourself. Definitely.

    ..and the best of lucks with the plans afoot (wet or dry)

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  3. Smiling.

    A lot.

    You are soggily awesome. :)

    xx

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  4. What a great, encouraging post. There's definitely sometimes I think about taking a plunge into the etsy world.
    Rinda

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  5. Thank-you for this today and that caption has made my heart sing with a smile! Yep, I am sure your words will resonate with very many of us :).

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  6. I understand and I wish you the best of luck and well done for being brave. It does resonate :)

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  7. Quite, good friends are the water wings you need to go beyond the shallows. Jo xx

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  8. Beautifully written, as always. You've got me intrigues about what it is you are dipping your toes into...

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  9. I love the top right curled corner on your card. And I know about those scary waters! I'm handing you an imaginary row boat to keep you afloat. I'll even help you row. x

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