Skip to main content

Are You in the Gradually?

 "Gradually then suddenly" This line from a poem written by my poet/philosopher nephew strikes a chord with me (Apparently some guy named Hemingway was the first to pen it. Although, I prefer to give the credit to my nephew).

Gradually then suddenly seems to be the way life happens. You wait for your dream-job. You long to find "the one." You can't wait to become a parent. The pining and preparation go on for years (just ask any medical student - or their spouse!). Then suddenly you get the call and can-you-start-next-week; or he finds your wallet and your life changes its trajectory (true story about my niece); or the adoption agency contacts you when you've all but given up hope.

Sometimes the gradually then suddenly isn't of our own choosing. Sometimes life propels us into a suddenly that we don't expect and may not want...or maybe we do. 

I've been a litlover since childhood (both reading it and writing it). I've done the work of
an editor and proofreader for twenty-ish years for employers. My husband says I'm sick. I get excited when the new edition of a grammar and punctuation manual comes out. I critique the bestsellers I read. I can't help myself. It helps me hone my skills, and I just think it's fun. I've long played with the idea of freelance editing/writing, but my husband is an associate pastor (not exactly a high-paying job). We need my guaranteed income. Freelancing has always been a pipe-dream. 

Until now.

Unbeknownst to me when I took my most recent position, this 8 to 5 guaranteed-income job requires a fair amount of talking. Some days it's a full eight hours. I recently learned that I have a specific type of asthma that is triggered by talking and once triggered, it goes on and on for six to eight weeks. I get three sick days a year. My guaranteed-income job is no longer that.

Suddenly I am propelled to find work that doesn't involve being around people (lest I talk). 

Suddenly my dream of freelance writing and editing isn't so much a dream as a necessity. 

Suddenly I am uncomfortable. REALLY uncomfortable. I'd hoped to be winding down my work-life about now, but that's not an option. I'm not a risk-taker, but here I am. I'm not a big social media fan, but current marketing wisdom says that's the way to go. Everything around this transition makes me squirm. Everything except the thought of doing what I love.

If you're in the gradually of life, hang on. Suddenly is coming. 


My grand daughter. She has nothing to do with this post. She's just cute. 😊

Comments

  1. cmsOctober 18, 2023 at 7:49 AM

    If I was able, I would have this entry published worldwide! You are describing how to live in the present, building your own beautiful future. Courage, perseverance, faith. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ In You

My husband and I had dinner the other night with some dear friends. Our conversation didn't exactly meander to the topic of God. It was more like it burst into it with both guns blazing, although now, I can't stop my thoughts from meandering back to one simple phrase that our friend said: Christ in me . Several years ago I went through a season of reading the works of some Christian mystics, desert fathers and mothers as they are sometimes called because they separated themselves from their culture and lived in the desert to more effectively spend time with God without the distractions of city life. I read quite a bit of Jeanne Guyon. She obviously loved God deeply, and I learned a lot from her writings, but there was one phrase that she couldn't seem to emphasize enough, and it always bothered me - look within yourself to find God (sounds a little new-agey, doesn't it?) Honestly, the thought has been repulsive to me. It's so contrary to our modern Christian thoug...
5 comments
Read more

Believing the Lies

My husband and I recently watched The Help - a story about a group of African American women who worked as maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the '60s. One of the protagonists works for a woman "who got no b'ness havin' babies." This woman, this family maid and nanny, tells her little two year old ward regularly, "You is pretty. You is smart. You is impor'ant." How difficult it is for us to believe that about ourselves - really, to believe anything good about ourselves. I always try to be my raw self when I write a blog post. Today is no exception. So I confess that I've been drowning in a storm of lies lately. My head knows they're lies, and I could easily tell anyone else in the same place that they're lies, but I haven't been able to get a grip. There have been so many of them coming at me at once. It seems that I just break the surface, gulp some fresh air of truth then get pulled back under. One thing I know: the enemy of our ...
7 comments
Read more

As A Child

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3 Become like little children? Really? Children are definitely cute and innocent, but that pretty much covers the positive qualities. On the negative side, however, the list is quite a bit lengthier: demanding, dependent, self-centered, messy, often smelly, expensive, and embarrassingly honest. So why? WHY in the world would Jesus tell us to become like little children? WHY in the world would He want that? What was He thinking?! Well, He was a thirty-something year-old bachelor. Maybe He didn't really know what He was talking about when He said that. I mean, if we come to Him like little children, it's pretty much guaranteed to be messy. We're likely to be crabby, cranky. We might be downright angry. Prayer-ADD is hard to control on a good day. If we're not on top of it, if we don't have our list in front of us to focus our thoughts, we...
4 comments
Read more