What’s stopping us from going
after the things we want to do? Time? Money? Fear? Money might be a big deterrent.
Understandable. Isn’t that’s what savings are for? A little money set aside
each day/week/month adds up over the years. Time could be another thing holding
us back. A round-the-world cruise when you only have two weeks’ vacation is a
tad difficult. Retirement seems to be the time to realize our dreams, our
somedays. We certainly have the time. Money is another story. But, if after
taking into account our everyday expenses and if there is enough money for one or more items
on our bucket list, what’s stopping us? Is it fear?
Fear is paralyzing. It stops us
in our tracks, holds us back. We can come up with 9 million (my favorite
number) excuses why we can’t do something. Take travel. I’m sure you’ve heard
the excuses. I don’t know the language. I won’t like the food. I might get
sick. Or maybe an item on the bucket list is something we want to accomplish—graduate
from college (or get an advanced degree), play the piano, paint a picture,
write a book. The excuses are rampant. It will take too long to finish. I don’t
know how. I won’t be good. I’d have to take lessons/classes. I don’t have time
to practice. I’m too old to learn new tricks.
Nineteen years ago, my dream was
to publish a book. I took classes, attended workshops, learned a lot, made
mistakes, got rejections, kept writing. Eleven years ago, my first novel was
published. That was so great I had a new dream—publish another. More
rejections, more classes/workshops, more mistakes. Dejection. Quit. That’s
right. I said the heck with this. Why keep banging my head against that wall.
But inside the light of that dream didn’t quite flicker out. I did start
writing again—for fun and because a writer has
to write.
A year ago, I started thinking—if
I’m ever going to fulfill my dream I’d better get going. If going the
traditional route to publishing didn’t work, then what about a non-traditional
way? At that time, I’d only heard a little of the buzz about independent (self)
publishing, but encouragement from some friends made me check it out. That
opened up a whole new world. I could accomplish my dream. I reissued my
out-of-print first book, Switched, as
an e-book. I finished the sequel, Switched,
Too and published it, again as an e-book. Learning how to independently
publish took time, patience and work. Like anything else, the more you do
something the better you get at it. I have two more books in the works--another sci-fi romance (to be released in November) and the concluding book in the Switched series (to be released early next year). Next month, I plan to release Switched, Too in print. The learning
curve for that DIY project was much steeper. But, who says old dogs can’t learn?
Actively going after a dream was
brought sharply to mind recently. One of my uncles passed away after a long
bout with cancer. He was my dad’s youngest brother and only ten years older
than me. Last night, I learned that a fine lady I used to work with as a Girl
Scout volunteer passed away. She was ten years younger than me. Now, if my
uncle’s passing wasn’t a wake-up call that time is passing, this latest news
was.
I guess the upshot about ticking things
off the bucket list is asking ourselves a simple question: if not now, when? We
never know how much time we have, so when are we going to do them? What’s
holding us back?
On Thursday, my guest is Michigan
author Christine Warner. I hope you’ll come back to meet her.
