Belonging or Fitting In

“Just fit in where you can.  And don’t make waves” they say.  In other words, change who you are and blend in.  Don’t stand out.  Don’t let your true colors be seen, and for God’s sake, don’t be individualistic.”

And if that is “fitting in” then shoot me now. 

Fitting in is changing me and my ideas, my unique twist that I can offer and just being a robot, just one more nonentity in a long string of other nobodies.

No thank you.  I don’t want to play that game.

I want something to which I can belong.  I want a place in which to plug into where my own uniqueness is recognized and appreciated. 

You too?

Good for you. 

GREAT FOR YOU! 

I’m a bit tired of being made to look like everyone else, smell like everyone else.  And I don’t want to wear the uniform of the day just like everyone else.

When I feel I belong, then I get to be me, true and authentic to my true self.  I like ME and I do ‘me’ best when I feel I belong. 

Fit in?  No thank you.  Bend and twist to your tune?  I don’t think so.  Drink your cool aide?  No, I prefer my own brew.

You see, I have a brain.  I have reasoning skills.  I have talents lying inside of me that I haven’t even discovered yet, and you want me to shove all that aside and do your bidding just so I can fit in?

No thanks.

I’m going to seek my own place and space, my own opportunities where I can stretch my wings, where I can think for myself, and where my expressions are unique to me. 

If I have to fit into your rule book, your agenda, your slant, then something inside of me dies and that is a death I can no longer bear.  I don’t want to be like everybody else.  I don’t want to be like you.  I’m me and my voice is different from yours.  Do you want to hear me sing, or write, or build, or create, or not?

I have learned this in life … I thrive in soil that nurtures me, soil that promotes growth and exploration. 

You want the best “me” you ever saw?

Then create a space and a place in which I belong.  I no longer want to fit in.

And now … Brene Brown will add the crowning touch to this thought

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Even When Afraid, We Speak

Fear is the enemy.  What is it that Franklin Roosevelt said?

“The only thing we have 

to fear is … fear itself.”

And when we are afraid, we still speak.  We still put our hand to the task and we do the thing we are called to do - the thing that burns inside of us that calls us. 

We have no guarantees that anyone will listen.  We don’t know if we will sell even one copy of our project, yet we do it. 

WE DO IT!

Picture this … there sits a cage, and the door is standing wide open.  Inside, there is a man who has been locked in this cage for decades.  Oh, he has dreamed of freedom.  He has longed for the door to his cage to be sprung wide so he can ‘escape’.  And now the door opens.  And now freedom is steps away.

Will he take the first step toward freedom?  Will he come out of his ‘comfort zone’ and breathe the air of new possibilities, new opportunities?

He is afraid, and he doesn’t even know of what he is afraid, because he has never ventured from this ‘cage’ of his understanding.  But come out he must.  Come out he shall, for it is his time and his moment to do the new, to go where he has never gone before.

Are you afraid to go and be and do?

What if you just did it? 

Planned it?

Dreamed it?

Promoted it?

Did it?

Oh my, that is the stuff of which dreams are made.

I’m doing that even as I write.  If you’ve followed my blogs for long you have read of my desire to be a writer for thirty years.  For eight years I’ve been producing blogs, words of hope and encouragement, and it has been quite a ride.

Now, I launch a major speaking event.  No one came and asked me to do this.  I had to craft the speech. I had to ask to be allowed to present, and then to create the promo pieces. 

And in one week I’ll do a major presentation.

The fears … they are manageable.  And in the middle of my fears, I shall speak.  And it will be an evening into which I will pour my whole heart into.

What an exhilarating ride!!!

I hope you are finding your voice even in the middle of fear. 

We want to hear what you have to say … and you may say it through painting, music, a business venture or some other medium.

Speak to us!

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The Eighth Time May Work

I’m on number seven.  I’ve not had my success yet, but I made it to seven.  Do I have one more try left in me?  I don’t know.  I’ve blundered so much, lost so much, disappointed a few, and disappointed myself more.

And if I don’t try, I’ll never know, will I?

So here I go.  I will stand one more time.  I

will put the hammer to the nail, or whatever apt metaphor might apply, and I will once again try.  My dream is still as vivid as it has ever been. 

I am a bit weary of the journey and I am not at journey’s end.

Will people miss me?  Will they miss my efforts?

Wait a minute.  That is self-pity talking.  Who cares if they will miss me.  They can’t miss what they don’t know could have been.

Wow.  That is too good to pass by so quickly.

They can’t miss 

what they don’t know 

could have been.

So here I go.  I’m going to stand up one more time.  I’m going to strike a blow on my dream.  I’m going to do this thing. 

After all, the eighth time may work.

It just may work.

  

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