avatarMercedes O'Leary

Summary

The article encourages embracing one's unique qualities and contributions to family and community, suggesting that personal growth and social impact are intertwined.

Abstract

The article, titled "Trust Your Own Sweet Awkwardness In The Week Ahead," delves into the significance of individual authenticity and its impact on the community. Drawing inspiration from Brian Doyle's essay "Final Frontier," it emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself and the positive ripple effects this can have for generations. The author reflects on their own experience, acknowledging a tendency to neglect family while pursuing creative work, but proposes that these aspects of life are not mutually exclusive. The piece advocates for a harmonious balance between personal responsibilities and creative aspirations, suggesting that our legacy is shaped by how we conduct ourselves in our most intimate relationships and community roles. The author commits to a week of mindful living, promising to be present, playful, truthful in writing, and trust in their own inherent worth, while also being generous and loving.

Opinions

  • The author believes that being the best version of oneself has a profound and unseen impact on others.
  • It is conveyed that our everyday actions and behaviors contribute to the social fabric and can prevent it from unraveling.
  • The article suggests that creative work and personal roles are part of a larger continuum of community participation.
  • There is an opinion that we should not be defined by our titles or roles but rather by our comfort with our own "sweet awkwardness."
  • The author posits that our influence extends beyond what is immediately visible, suggesting that our conduct will resonate with future generations.
  • A personal vow is made to live the upcoming week with intention, including being silent when needed, welcoming playfulness, writing with integrity, and affirming self-worth amidst doubts.
  • The author concludes with the belief that love should be the guiding principle in all actions, affirming that we are indeed enough.

Trust Your Own Sweet Awkwardness In The Week Ahead

How you can have a positive impact in your community

Photo by RepentAnd SeekChristJesus on Unsplash

Before bed last night, I read an essay by Brian Doyle called “Final Frontier.” He writes:

“You must trust that you being the best possible you matters somehow. That trying to be an honest and tender parent will echo for centuries through your tribe. That doing your chosen work with creativity and diligence will shiver people far beyond your ken. That being an attentive and generous friend and citizen will prevent a thread or two of the social fabric from unraveling. And you must do all of this with the certain knowledge that you will never get the proper credit for it, and in fact the vast majority of things you do right will go utterly unremarked.”

Comforting, humbling thoughts before sleep.

Being the best possible you matters somehow.

I considered how, as I turn toward a more interior creative space, I have not been as tender towards my daughters or my husband, my dear, beloveds. If attention is the natural prayer of the human soul, as a poet once said, then my family, for so long, has had all of it.

But maybe we don’t have to be in an arm wrestle with our responsibilities and our creative potential, maybe they are part of the same thing.

Maybe participating in our communities isn’t what we think it is. Maybe it’s not about our titles or roles, maybe it’s about being comfortable in our own sweet awkwardness.

It’s a lot to consider that the way we behave in our families and in our communities will ripple through generations.

Now it is morning, not yet 6 am. The house is still asleep. It’s a good time to make a vow for the week ahead: that I will be silent when necessary, that I will welcome the spirit of play when it shows up in my daughters, that I will write with integrity and truth, and trust in my own sweet awkwardness, that I will call a friend and go for a walk, that I will be generous when my discernment is needed, and that when I feel the world pressing on me, questioning “but is it enough?” I will answer: yes, we are enough.

I will proceed with love.

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