Who Do You Want To Be?

Are you ready to be inspired?

I know it’s a bold title, but stick with me.

I’m not one to blow smoke up your ass. (Or is it rainbows? Because rainbows and smoke seem kind of opposite.) Whatever. I vow to blow nothing up your ass. However, it’s my every intention to inspire you today. I’m not quite sure how yet, but I’m winging it. I’m being inspired by this song and by the changes that are happening right now.

We haven’t featured many instrumentals here on Songstories, but this one feels worth the mention today. It carries some power with it.

Press play and then read on:

Not long ago I wrote about experiencing Awe by your stories.

Day after day we read incredible stories of recovery, truth, vulnerability, survival, and resolve. Recovery from trauma of all kinds, none more significant than the others. We tend to present our sunny sides to the world, rarely exposing our sensitive underbellies.

Stories of people and their lives and the things that have happened, and how they’re carrying on with more resolve and drive and passion despite mountains of troubles and traumas. Stories written by people who are fighting battles we’ll never know about in their own worlds every single day. Some of those stories do see daylight, and they’re coming here to do it. Source

Yet, we resist change. We are afraid. We are afraid of change because the familiarity of our comfort zone feels safer than the unknown, even though the unknown holds unlimited potential. Because change is fucking hard, if not impossible. There must be a catalyst, and we don’t always recognize when one is upon us. Sometimes we don’t see it until we’re miles down the road.

You have the power in you. You always have.

Alcoholism was something I always struggled with, but it’s so normalized we think it’s simply part of the human experience. So, when I decided to get off the train, I began to awaken to the realization that the train will keep on chugging down the tracks without me.

And you know what? I’m fine with that.

In the clarity that has come from sobriety, I’m learning how much love I have to give. How much energy I have to live my life. How much potential I carry around with me. And if I carry that much potential, we all must. I understand we don’t all have the same means, but still, the potential exists in all of us.

You are a writer. We are writers. What do writers do? We build worlds. Each day we get up and write our stories. We use words to create the world for ourselves and for anyone who may read our work. We write our own stories, and through writing many times we can literally see the world develop before our eyes.

So, I ask you: Who do you want to be? What do you want to do with your time here? What kind of world do you want to create?

We are the creators. If we are eight years old or eighty, we have the choice. We can make things happen for ourselves. We don’t always believe it, but it’s true. Perhaps we don’t like the responsibility that comes from being in charge of our own destiny. Responsibility means work.

Change feels like too much to handle. We fight it as if we can prevent it from happening, but change happens regardless. Change is inevitable. The longer we fight it the further we are from both the past and the present.

From Sarah Blondin’s Live Awake podcast entitled Accepting Change:

When you are in a place where there feels to be a black hole staring you in the face, stop in front of it. Look not into its abyss with fear, but with creativity and a renewed outlook for your life. This is a moment where you become the creator. Where you become responsible for what appears. Where you become the giver of life. Align with the source within you that knows of your magnificence and all that you are worthy of. Now is the time to create in the name of all you long for.

Don’t hold back, Dear One. Don’t stop yourself from creating the most vivid and wildly beautiful existence you can imagine. In the face of change, sit there…and pour so much beauty you can barely breathe. Until tears of joy wet your eyes, your dreams, the smell of the air, your infectious heart, your pure intent…feed it with more love than you have ever experienced before. — Sarah Blondin — Live Awake Podcast.

So, write your story. Make it a good one. Don’t hold back. Share your creations and amazing stories.

You are amazing, and you are worthy.

“We are all stories in the end, just make it a good one eh?” — Dr. Who.

Thanks to Tom Day for the musical inspiration for this piece. My experiences reading and writing with you have helped me change, and this is an attempt at paying it forward to anyone who needs to hear this.