Thanks to a rather interesting set of circumstances I became really good at facing adversity. One of the things I’ve learned is that on the other side? You need to transform. You don’t? You drag all that adversity with you.
Some might liken this to trying to climb a ladder with a bunch of people hanging onto your legs.
Talk about drag.
Last December as we were heading into the winter and I was releasing the nonfiction work Destination Unknown: Explorations of the Paranormal, I took time to assess where I was in my life, my career, and where I was going.
I always do this type of thing weeks if not months before New Year’s.
I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions.
By the time February was rolling around I was eating from the plate of “Be careful what you ask for.”
I knew that in spite of best intentions I’d been writing defensively for some time.
What I hadn’t expected when I started pawing my way through that basket of other people’s crap was the ungodly toll it was going to take on me.
Especially my morale.
As I told a friend earlier today it was the same feeling as when I was learning to body surf at Huntington Beach, California, and – unprepared for the unexpected – had a wave slam me to the seafloor.
I was 13 and visiting my dad who’d split for LA after the divorce.
I well remember seeing stars after my chin slammed that cement some people called sand.
As my dad coached me – I didn’t panic.
It isn’t in my nature to panic – about anything.
I relaxed my body as he advised me to in such a case, tucked my head between my outstretched arms and allowed the waves to carry me forward.
Where I proceeded to scoop up a doo-doo load of saltwater and sand in my nose and mouth. Yech!
I pulled myself up and stepped through shallow waves to see him standing close.
He saw what happened and was ready to run in.
I smiled as I spit out salt water and sand and said “I did it like you told me! I relaxed my body and let the waves carry me in! I DIDN’T PANIC!”
This was pretty much exactly 3 years after a brain bleed left me blind, paralyzed, and in a coma.
He smiled, put an arm around my shoulder and guided me over for something to drink from the cooler.
Uh-oh.
No water and no soda left.
Only beer in a can wrapped in a Peppi Cola or Dr. Peeper label.
I guzzled the beer.
I think it was Busch.
I wasn’t thrilled with the taste but it was damn better than the salt and sand!
As I guzzled he said, “I should have warned you about that spot. You need to come further in or go further out.”
???
He explained that further in (closer to the shore) is shallow so you do the arms out head tucked approach.
And prepare for a nose and mouth full of salt water and/or sand.
For what I was looking for? Further out where your body moves with the waves.
Handing him the empty can – my very first alcoholic beverage ever – I turned and ran into the surf, diving in and swimming out to the fun part.
But…
Is life fun like this?
Wellllll….
It’s like those waves where sometimes you get to let the waves carry you – sometimes you ride them with the rhythm of your body and soul and sometimes?
Jaw slam!
I’ve spent the past 3 weeks trying to figure out what happened this past winter.
Jaw slam.
Even as I went back out and tried a few moves to see how it went over for me.
Satisfied I got myself where I need to be? I’m moving forward.
Oh – did you think I was going for a dip in the cooler North Pacific waters? Um – no.
I’m talking about writing!
Changes to the sites are coming!
Nothing too drastic – just capitalizing on what I’ve done so far.
As for the basket?
Let’s put it this way…
As the phoenix shot up? The basket caught fire.
Good riddance!
and Stay tuned