Take A Chance Day - Why We Write
Hello Friends,
I apologize for the long stretch of silence. I have been locked in three weeks of moving, er, heck.
Calling it moving hell would be hyperbole, especially when my new home daily presents me with reasons to pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming – but it has been exhausting, as moving almost always is. Physical exhaustion leads to mental fog, which makes it difficult to write anything that might be worth sharing.
“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.”
James Joyce
Like all writers, I long for perfection: pithy but not pedantic, lighthearted but not trite. And short. Most people don’t have time for a tome on The Meaning of Life (though if you don’t mind raunch and you have ninety minutes, I commend Monty Python’s take on the issue).
As the Time and Date webpage on this holiday notes, “take a chance . . .
refers to doing something that has a high likelihood of failure . . .
risking the possibility of failure or misfortune.”
More often than not, I can see that my writing doesn’t even come close to hitting the mark. And yet, I keep trying. A shy introvert with a unique talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time when speaking in person, writing allows me to consider my words before sending them out into the world.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill
Which brings me to today’s post. April 23 is Take a Chance Day.
Writers are constantly taking chances. Taking a chance our essays and stories and poems will be hated, or even merely dismissed as not good enough. Ignored. Misunderstood. Derided.
“There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.”
Brene Brown
Continuing to share our writing takes courage, in the face of the inevitability of at least some failures. We have to be willing to take a chance that some of our words will be meaningful to someone, somewhere. Or not.
So April 23 is in a sense Writers Day. Artists Day. Leap of Faith Day for everyone who wants to create something that may form a connection with others.
What do you say we Take A Chance together? Reach out, have a conversation about something controversial with someone who holds different views. Take a chance that you’ll be rebuffed.
Or not.
There are many deeply important topics on which we should be working to find common ground. Paper or plastic? Individual efforts to combat climate change versus corporate action? Immigration laws and compassion for refugees. Sexual harassment in the workplace. Discrimination. Public education. Health care. Taxes. Sustainable energy.
And of course, the issue that is or should be on everyone’s mind: the Chauvin verdict, and the implications for Black Lives Matter and our national evaluation of policing. As a wise woman I know said: how is it possible that with a recording of the entire, horrible death, many of us woke up on the day of the jury verdict wondering whether there would be an acquittal? What does that say about us as a nation, about our legal system?
Forging common ground doesn’t have to begin – or end – with broad-reaching conversations about deeply important topics. While I would never advocate for avoiding tough conversations (especially not on Take a Chance Day!), constantly remaining mired in the world’s toughest problems is not sustainable.
We need laughter, and naps where the dog surreptitiously joins you on the bed, even though it’s forbidden, and you wake up with dog hair stuck to your lips.
We need hugs, and slow rambles through the park debating the pros and cons of Pokemon GO. We need misty mornings when you clear your schedule for the all-important task of making cookies.
And we have work to do. The world needs us, all of us, to take a chance on being our best selves, and helping each other along that journey.
To honor Take a Chance Day, pick a topic, pick a person, pick a medium. Reach out. Share. Listen.
Dare to fail.
Or not.
Postscript: It is amazing and frustrating to me how difficult it is to find quotes from women about success. Is that simply sexism, or is it perhaps because women are often too busy persisting to be bothered coming up with quotable pontifications?
A few of my favorites among those I was able to find:
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” — Helen Keller
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” — Marie Curie
“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” — Maya Angelou
“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” — Louisa May Alcott
And of course:
“ . . . Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried . . . .”
Amanda Gorman