Why Not? She Asks Again – #reverb13 – Day 17

Resolve – Firmness of purpose; to solve a problem or a dispute.

My word for 2013 was “resolve.” I dissected that word last December, and like any misguided wordsmith, instead of thinking “how does this apply to me” I just pulled it all apart and wrote in second person.

I have a tendency to do that. To write things in “second person.” That is, to write “you should do X” instead of “I should do X.”

Did I “re-solve” my issues in 2013? I don’t think so. I think it is more like I re-hashed them. I re-visited them. I re-cognized them.

Habits have a tendency to do that: to drag us back and back and back to the same old stomping grounds.

Maybe I didn’t “re-solve” and move on because the visiting again is comforting, or familiar, or just a known quantity. In some cases (like eating Tombstone pizzas), it might not be a good choice, but at least it isn’t the terrifying unknown frontier.

Lately, though, I’ve been hearing the universe asking me that BIG QUESTION it likes to pester me with:

“Why not?”

Hearing that siren call always sends me into a tizzy. But then, I regress…

This is also familiar ground, a lovely, beautiful place I can’t wait to get back to. It’s the kind of risk-taking naiveté that led Colin and I on our adventures to Europe, spurred me on to my summer in Italy and my life as a freelancer, and led to our choice to become “mega”-parents.

It’s The Universe reminding me not to get lazy. To not make assumptions. To not die sitting around.

“What do you want to do?” She asks me, and listens. Then prods:

“Well, why not?”

The year I decided to save up for a summer in Italy, it started just like this. My mind turned in a certain direction. Not toward a particular idea, but toward a desire to feel free, alive, lit up.

“Why not?” she reminds me. “It is all within reach.”

I am happy to realize I am returning to that stomping ground.

I am curious to see where that path will take me, with my family, in 2014.

(I am also happy to report that I have mostly “re-solved” my problem with second person.)
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Today’s prompt:
What word did you select to be your travelling companion in 2013? What gifts did this word bring?

What word will you choose to guide you through 2014? What do you hope it will bring into your life?

This post is part of December’s reverb13. Click the button to read more.