This special piece is from Tirzah McPherson-Lewis. It was a writing exercise as part of the Narrative Coaching certification. Enjoy!!!
You would think as I write this that I would feel bold and declarative, but I don’t. I feel lost and heartbroken. I feel like a woman out of her time, misplaced in a day and age where what I long to become is incompatible with the world that presently exists. It feels like who I would become has no place here and yet I see how good it could be for those with whom I interact. I am like a trout frantically swimming upstream desperate for calmer waters. It feels futile and so my emotion as I write is despair.
What could I be if I let me be free? I’d be a creator, a playmate and an “inviter”. I’d be eclectic – that lady you love to hang out with in her home thinking thoughts and dreaming dreams. I’d be that odd mom; the one whose house you loved to go to because she spoke with you like you had something real to say and she actually heard you when you said it. You’d think, ‘damn her kids are lucky’ but realize they don’t see it because she’s always been this way to them, and they find it a little embarrassing.
I would be a living room patron of the arts and ideas. A place of encouragement for creation. A salon mistress holding court for inspired ideas as they passed from person to person. I’d be a friend helping young people navigate the jadedness of adversity and disappointment – staying with them as the grafted life experience to their creative souls; and expanded the richness of it into an ever-renewing set of ideas, experiences and opportunities.
I would be free and eclectic and thoughtful. I would read a ridiculous amount and philosophize ad nauseum and I would not fear that this was frivolous or a waste. I would declare boldly that this is the stuff of life! This is where knowing and being known take place in the exchange of vulnerability, hopes ideas and dreams. I would war against the frenetic pace that grinds creativity into dust and calls exhaustion living. I would open my arms embracing all I could into the warmth of this space in the moments they could spare with the gift of a meal and meaning created together to remind them that they are human… and that is enough. We are proud partners with Minneapolis Community & Technical College. If you work for an organization that offers tuition reimbursement this is your opportunity to tap into this available and complete your coaching certification. Classes are offered every month. Register online to get started today. For questions about registration, classes and more please contact Jennie Antolak, MA, MCC.
