FREEDOM

“If they strain me up tight, why, let 'em look out! I can't bear it, and I won't.” ― Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

Today's Goodreads quote, above, just made me so happy that I decided to use it as a prompt, and my lovely daughter Sophie as an example of how my making myself free taught my kids a lesson--BE WHO YOU ARE, and EXULT IN IT!!

Sophie runs half marathons--she just completed her fifth. I was there to see her response to this one, and it was inspirational back at me. I've run all my life but am much less religious about it these days. My knees hurt and I weigh more than I ever did before which makes it hard to go all out--something I really love. Running flat out makes me feel like I'm flying, bursting through barriers as intimidating as many other barriers I've burst through.

When I was a high school kid, my parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be, but after getting into a prestigious college, I spent a lot of time conforming, and losing sight of that. Now, I'm back to what I wanted to be--a writer and a teacher, if only teaching at the library as opposed to my one-time goal to be a tenured professor. But really, which type of teaching is more freeing, anyway? And as a tenured professor, I wouldn't be joyously writing young adult fiction. 

Not every day as a writer is joyous, but man-oh-man is it better than anything else I've ever worked at doing. When I'm deeply into the creative process, I have no idea what's happening around me. It's flow.

So for this week's prompts, I'm going to focus on freedom. What freedoms did you give up to become a responsible adult? Which would you like back? Brainstorm for a few minutes, and see whether you can get a paragraph or two out of that. I'll post some more ideas tomorrow.

Have fun!

Lisa