Thank you so much for subscribing to my newsletter! I hope to make this an intimate space where we can collectively explore life's victories and grapple with life’s challenges. I look forward to sharing my first book with you, “The Other Side of Yet,” early in 2022. The book is now available for presale, so this feels like the perfect time to also launch this blog. I want to use this space monthly to explore some of the concepts in the book. So, I will start with the story I know best. My own.
My earliest dream was to publish a book. I've written my entire life. At some point in elementary school, I cobbled together my first story. It was called “A Dream Come True.” It was about a boy named Willie, who dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. He dreams. He works hard. He grows up. It happens. Simple. Straightforward. Linear. Only a child’s eyes and imagination could fathom that it all could happen just like that.
Each of us has a unique journey and a different story. You may not have dreamed of being a writer, but we all begin writing our “dream” version of our life story as children. Your dreams may have been romantic or dramatic. You wanted to be an artist. You wanted to be a professional athlete. You wanted to find that one in a million-love story you watched on every rom com. You may have dreamed of love, financial success, or your own family. Perhaps you achieved some of your early dreams and worked hard for those goals. You married. You had children. You had a successful career. You lost that last 20 pounds.
This is the beginning of our adult story. We are figuring things out. We may stumble, but we are able to keep our footing. Then at some point we face our first intersection. Suddenly life as we know it is changed forever. It could be through loss of health, dreams, loved ones. It could be a slow break up of a relationship or career or a speeding bullet of tragedy. The car carrying our “before” life is totaled beyond repair. As we stumble away, we are confused. Afraid. Hurt. We may even be angry. And this is the moment that makes all of the difference. This is your “YET.”
When it is clear that despite your best efforts, your old dreams are no more, you have a choice. And I hope you choose to keep going. You can pivot away from your “BEFORE” knowing some things will never be the same. You don’t have to know where you are going, and you may not even be willing to accept what has happened to your life. Yet…if you are brave enough to turn from the scene and just start walking, life will find you. Purpose will find you. Hope will find you.
Every month we will talk about “YET” moments. Sometimes I will share my own experience and sometimes I will ask some of you to share yours. I hope to build a community here where those of us who have had to rewrite our life stories, can gather and testify and keep writing our own next chapters.
I can’t promise you what your “AFTER” will look like. I can’t promise you that the road will be easy. But if you are brave enough to get to the other side of your “YET,” I can promise you that more life awaits.
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