I tell wonder-filled stories about hope and healing
Leaping is never a matter of one and done. Every day, we take chances. We lay our cards down the table and say, “This is who I am. This is what I care about. And this is why it matters.” Leaping is like breathing: we must keep leaping to attain the full benefit of each small step. It’s only when we combine them that we learn just how far we can go.
Aren’t we all in beta? Living, experimenting, evaluating, adjusting. We’re testing new ideas, new ways of being, doing, and seeing. My friend Amanda recently introduced to her friend Marsha, whose Twitter bio wittily reads “still in beta”. For me, that’s the only way to live. Let’s go have an adventure!
Be stubborn about where you’re going and open about the paths you take to get there. There will be bumps, falls, scrapes, and bruises along the way. Those are not reasons to abandon the journey. They’re there to show you just how much the destination means to you. And when you look back on that long road, those mishaps will be the moments that taught you the most.
My habits are being shaken to the core right now: I’m moving to a new apartment in a new neighborhood and my workload and career are shifting. My play, Sing After Storms, is about to go into rehearsal, and that will drastically change my schedule. I have the feeling that I’m at the start of a very exciting and very long journey, and I don’t know exactly where it will lead nor what turns in the road to expect. I do know that I will have to navigate it purposefully and by intent. 3 cheers for self-made change!
I’ve been talking to a lot of friends about big life changes. Moving, relationships, jobs, creative projects. It’s too easy to say, “I’ll get to that later.” Later never arrives. If you have something you really want to do, something you want to try, take the plunge. Give it a whirl. Grab the opportunity. There’s no good reason to put off anything you really want to do. You deserve the very best shot at exactly the life you want. I support anyone and everyone willing to take any kind of chance. Go for it!
Don’t worry about the storms ahead. The winds are always on the side of the ablest navigator. Sail on.
“It is the business of the future to be dangerous.” ~ Alfred North Whitehead
We have to stretch further than we think we can to find out just how far we can go. Lately, my future feels a little dangerous to me. I feel like I’m skating across very thin ice. I’m taking on new, big, exciting endeavors that I’ve never tried before now that demand a lot of my time, energy, and attention. Sometimes I sit straight up in bed in the middle of the night and my only thoughts are, “What have I done? What am I going to do? Who do I think I am?”
And then I take a deep breath. I go back to the beginning, like I’ve done so many times before. I remind myself why I started this improbable journey and all of the beautiful things that have fallen into place through hard work, dedication, and my steadfast belief in the power of a community united behind a common goal.
“I need more sleep,” I think to myself. It’s almost dawn. In a few hours, I’ll need to be up and about looking danger in the face without flinching. Better to live in the now. The future will be here soon enough, and when it arrives, I’ll be ready for it.
On Sunday, I went to Long Island City and saw an apartment that was so hideous I wouldn’t feel comfortable having a goldfish live there much less my dog, Phineas. It was a second-floor walk-up for $1800 on a street that I am fairly certain could be renamed crack alley. After giving the dim-witted broker a piece of my mind, I high-tailed it back to the subway as fast as my legs would carry me. I had two choices: I could cry or write. So I wrote this: “I will find a way to put this stress to use. I am on a treasure hunt and at the end of it, Phin and I will find a great place to settle in. It will be worth it.”
Lately I’ve been a bit restless. I’m looking to break out of all my routines, to let go of anything and everything that makes me feel the slightest bit stuck. I’ve been here before and there’s only one way to fix it: let’s run amok.
You will be presented with an opportunity and a choice: do you jump at the chance or let it pass you by? I’ve found that this is the most consistent circumstance that arises in my life. Do I hesitate and turn back or do I dive in and start pedaling like hell? And why? Hesitating and debating has never brought me much of anything I wanted. I’m happiest in action. It’s when I’m most alive, free, and grateful. In action, I am my very best me.
Christa Avampato 