This weekly series of motivational posts are for my Tribe of Creatives (of any discipline) stuck in the quagmire of fear and indecision.   Changing the course toward a dream is no easy task.  It’s not about finding a better job but heeding the inner call to be more than we are.  I’m right there with you, going from who I am to who I want to be.  Part of the trip is helping those a few miles behind me navigate the terrain on that vast open road.

 

This week’s theme is Embrace.

By “embrace” I do not mean hug (although who doesn’t love a hug?).  I mean invest yourself,  your whole being into something with giddy childish enthusiasm.  Specifically you, your dreams and your unique awesomeness.

Dream chasing is thirsty work.

If you’re already in an established life, you may think any change is too late.  So you plod along in your scribed routine while part of your brain sits under a tree and wonders about what could have been.  It all gets more difficult after the age of 30 when the warranty on wants runs out.

After that, all those things you wanted to do and be become bits of comfortable,  regretful nostalgia.  Looking at where you are now, you accept the situation with a silent vow to make the best of it.  This is not embracing it.   This is swallowing it- whole and sideways.  Still, that part of your brain sits under that shady tree watching the leaves change color waiting for its shot.

You can’t embrace what you don’t believe.

Unless you wanted to be a star athlete, astronaut or professional competitive scuba surfer (I swear I thought I just made that up but it’s a thing) then it’s not too late.

“Embrace who you are and your divine purpose. Identify the barriers in your life, and develop discipline, courage and the strength to permanently move beyond them, and keep moving forward.”
― Germany Kent

I got that from a page of quotes about embracing your reality. Should you need additional boosting,  power up with more here.  The translation goes something like: embrace your dream.  You have it in you for a reason.  Part of that reason is to share it because someone needs it.

Embrace the gift.

In a broad stroke, you must embrace who you are because there is only one you.  There will only be one you, ever.  Seeing as you hang out with yourself every day you may think you’re no big deal.  Trust me, you are.

Embrace that you are a rare miracle.

The one special you has a unique set of talents and gifts in just the right combination that make you entirely unique.  No one can do what you do exactly the way you do it.  No one can tell the story, paint that picture, start that business quite like you can.  Just you.

Embrace your unique talents.

Here’s the catch: to get you to your dream, no one will do the work for you.  To express your gifts, to change your life for the better, to offer what only you can provide, you’re the one who has to do the work.  All the work.  The good and easy parts as well as the difficult and awful parts.

Embrace, er, deal with it.

 

Embrace your mistakes.

Accept they multiply like rabbits in a magician’s trick gone wrong and remember they offer the most valuable lessons and provide the eventual answers.

Embrace your fear.

From it you will derive courage.  You will never be rid of fear or conquer it.  You will go around it today and wait for it to show up tomorrow.  Figure out what exactly you’re afraid of. It could be a steaming fear of failure because you’ll put in all the effort and reap none of the reward.  It could be a stinging fear of success because that means you’d have to grow and change and meet new expectations.

Embrace the process not the result.

Don’t sit down to write a bestseller.  Write the best story you can and craft it in the best way possible.

Embrace what makes you like everyone else.

We are social animals.  We find comfort and security in our tribes, however,

Embrace what makes you different.

To sound a bit like a hypocrite, if you’re thinking like everyone else then no one is thinking.

Embrace your success.

You earned it but don’t get cocky.

Embrace the life around you with a healthy dose of gratitude.

The gifts you were given are for you and for this world and everyone in it.  Embrace the world, your friends and your very life.  Embrace everyone you meet with kindness, respect and love.  Someone out there needs your gift because you’re the only one who can offer it.  Embrace the opportunity to make someone’s life better and happier by simply sharing what you have and it will come back to you.

That’s a treat to devour like hot chocolate on a cold winter night.

Embrace the chocolate, too.

So, fellow travelers of the creative road, we recently discussed having a strong sense of curiosity to help ignite your spark.  Now it’s time to embrace that curiosity and make your spark a flame.

Tom Serafini is a writer, illustrator, motivator of dreamers and sometime stand-up comedian residing in Brooklyn, New York.  His first illustrated picture book, Ollie Bug and the Icky Sticky Thing From Space, will be funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign coming soon.  It’s on the list.

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