Your problem is you’ve put yourself in a box, you’ve labeled the box, and you never let yourself step out of that box.
-- “Skeith,” from the book, “You Made Me Love You,” by Joanne Goodman

Are you really into accounting spreadsheets, straight-laced navy and black business suits, and board meetings with high-faluting self-important people, or do you long to be an artist painting on a scenic balcony in the south of France overlooking the Mediterranean coastline? What about a musician playing on international stages before millions and winning Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, World Music Awards, and the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Music? Or an entrepreneur who started a multi-national business on $50, a hobby, and magnanimous faith?

Or, what, did you get caught up in mama and daddy’s post-civil rights era conundrum – you know, the “now we can realistically aspire to be doctors, lawyers, and corporate execs” – and get trapped in a reliable and dependable job with guaranteed benefits, a pension, and a monotonous, ho-hum routine? Are you playing it safe by doing what’s expected, limiting your abilities and outlook, and putting your dreams and passions away for sometimes later, maybe after retirement from your corporate job, or for summer’s when you’re on vacation from 9 months of teaching?

There’s nothing wrong with living inside a knowable, unsurprising box. It’s comfortable and familiar in there. You’ve carved out a corner for yourself that allows you to see all 6 walls of the box, and really, you’ve decorated quite nicely. The trouble is your body – your spirit – is tiring of the same view; it’s tiring of holding itself in bent and stiff. It’s tired of being ignored.

Your spirit and the passions inside want to stretch out, live, and take center stage. They want to not be what mama an’ em said you should be; they want you to balk at traditional and conventional living and embrace them with all you’ve got. They want to show the world who you really are. And no matter what you do to quiet them, they will still exist and continue to rise, cut up, and make noise until you let them breathe and have their way.

Do something different; do what your heart desires. Maybe you’re not ready to give up the comfort of your box, but don’t wait too long. Cardboard eventually disintegrates and its contents lose their flavor and freshness.

Sadiqqa © 2007