I had a conversation today with two enormously talented women. All three of us admitted that we had spent years not doing the thing God uniquely gifted us to do. We wrote songs and stories and painted in our minds and sometimes even on paper but mostly we thought we might not be enough. Maybe it was the voice of someone dismissing us or someone rejecting our art or maybe it was a culture that accepts us being one way and not another. I can remember my former father-in-law saying to me after a trip to the library, ‘I think you read too many books.“ And I thought to myself, “And I think you haven’t read nearly enough.” But still, the message was there, to be accepted into that family, I would have to dumb it down. When will we stop putting limits on people – both male and female – and instead help them be everything they can possibly be on this planet?
The women I met with today each eventually decided to simply try. We made art, wrote songs and short stories and made music and lo and behold, we were good at it. So good that we continued to do it not for the money but because we were hard-wired to do it and felt more free and more alive because we actually were more free and more alive. Having the desire to create something inside your body and to not be able to express is like being in a self-imposed prison. You must break free and the only thing stopping you really is you. This is your gift not only to yourself but to others and it is radically life changing and life giving. People draw closer to that which is REAL. Putting words down on paper or paint on a canvas can be frightening which is why so few do. It appears safer to live a life that is expected but life grows exponentially when we step out and risk showing a little more of ourselves.
A friend of mine recently started acting and she’s brilliant. She’s 50 years old and she had never really tried this before but she’s absolutely genius at it and many of us are understanding things that we didn’t before because of her giftedness at telling a story through the theater. We must lean in to that which frightens us – being known, being vulnerable – these things require great courage but the cost of choosing to not show up fully is very high indeed.
I hope each of you who is reading this knows that you are more than enough and that your stories, your words, your art and your music are the world’s opus. Be brave. You can do it. I know because I did. #makeart – Laura Gallagher, President