Photo taken by Matthew Meidell
Hey, everyone! I’m excited about this post because it’s something that I know I need to work on in my own life, and who better to share it with you (and me) than someone who has lived one of my own dreams [of becoming a published author]?. I am so glad that Karey White was willing to come and share her thoughts with us here; you should check out her blog here and check out the book she’s published here. I think she is truly an inspiration to people everywhere that living your dream is always possible, regardless of how busy you are. Thanks for posting, Karey!
I was excited when Torrie asked me to be a guest blogger about something I’m passionate about. I thought that would be easy. I’m passionate about writing (I write). I’m passionate about creating (I always have to be creating something and often have several projects going at once), I’m passionate about reading and cooking and sewing and I love, love, love to travel and see new places. So I came over to Torrie’s blog to check out the other posts and discovered that writing has been covered, traveling has been done, and there’s a post about creating (and in it cooking and sewing).
So what could I write about that would be different and still, hopefully, worth reading.
What I came up with is a little different but I hope it resonates.
I’m passionate about our thoughts. I absolutely believe our thoughts make us what we are.
I’ve wanted to be a writer since high school. I took writing classes in college, but then got married, had my kids and most of my creative energies went to being a mom and doing things that helped pay the bills, like making wedding cakes and sewing. About six years ago, my family gave me an online writing class with a focus on getting published. It got me writing again, but the biggest thing I took from it was this line.
If you want to write, you have to think of yourself as a writer. If you can’t call yourself a writer, even to yourself, you’re simply not a writer.
Wow! I wanted to be a writer but I’d never once called myself a writer. I’d never finished a novel and I wasn’t published. If I told someone I was a writer and they asked me questions, they’d see I was a sham and they’d probably roll their eyes when I wasn’t looking. (Or worse—when I was looking.)
That would be so embarrassing.
But I wanted to write. And since I’d been taking the class, I’d been writing almost every day.
One Sunday I was sitting in a church meeting and I introduced myself to a new family that was sitting in front of me. We talked for a few minutes and during the conversation, the woman asked what I do. I told her I was a stay-at-home mom and then, scraping together every bit of courage I could find, I said, “and I’m a writer.” I braced myself for the questions that followed and answered them as they came.
No, I’m not published yet. No, I haven’t finished a novel. Yes, I’m working on one.
And she said, “This is so great. I’ve never known a writer before.”
That change in how I thought about myself was subtle but very real. I was a writer. I’d told her and she’d bought it, so it must be true.
I firmly believe that if we want something, the first thing we need to do is plant that desire in our thoughts. Then consistently water, weed and tend those thoughts. Think about them, stew on them, mull them over until they grow and become real to you. If you turn your thoughts over to them, they have life. If you forget about them or crowd them out with negative thoughts, they die.
“As a man thinketh, so is he.” I thought I was a writer and I was. I think I can’t do math and I can’t. I think I can control my actions and reactions and I can. I think I can’t and I can’t.
Dare to think about being what you want to be even if it seems remote or impossible. Think about it long and hard. Turn off the noise in your life and ponder, desire, and believe. Good thoughts can propel you to where you want to be. But only if you’ll think them.