It’s been a while since I’ve visited these pages. Had too much going on…or so I was led to believe. What does that even mean? Perhaps I should rephrase the statement and admit that I was distracted. Distracted by all the things that I allowed to get in the way of this pathway. I’ll say this now for emphasis and repeat it later for impact: STAY THE COURSE.
Someone asked me some time ago, “Who is your blog for?” I really didn’t consciously know. I said I just wrote because it was in me to write. I wanted to share experiences that would inspire others…I guess. I really hadn’t thought that deeply about it. I just felt it was something I needed to do. Of course, any question, whether it’s one I appreciate or not, finds its place at the conference table of my mind. Then it came to me. It’s for you.
You, the one taking the time to read these pages. You, the creative spirit manifest in the flesh. At times, as we all do, you will find yourself at a crossroads, not sure which direction is yours. I can go ahead and tell you now, to save you some time and trepidation. And since I know somebody is going to look it up and possibly get distracted, trepidation is basically a feeling of fear or anxiety about something that may happen. But here’s the thing: The right direction is the one you choose. And once you choose to march up to that path, whether it’s sunshine and rainbows or fire and brimstone, walk it like no one has walked it before, because they haven’t. It’s for you. Stay the course.
Take note that I said it’s the one YOU choose. Not the one you settle for. Not the one you’re left with. Not the one somebody else chose for you or you go with out of a sense of obligation. Not even necessarily the one that makes the most sense to everyone watching from the sidelines. It’s the one you choose.
This blog is for the ones who may not have chosen a traditional or easy path. It’s for the ones whose dreams are bigger than their bank accounts. It’s for the ones who have been told their ideas are too big, too strange, too impractical, too late, too early, or too much. It’s for the ones building something nobody else can quite see yet. And maybe most importantly, it’s for the ones who have started down the path and, somewhere along the way, got distracted. That’s where I kept finding myself. Distracted. Not defeated or lost just distracted. There is a difference. Life has a remarkable way of filling our hands with things that demand our attention while quietly stealing our attention from the things that matter most. One opportunity leads to another. One responsibility becomes five. We convince ourselves that we are simply busy when, sometimes, the truth is that we have allowed the important things to be pushed to the side by the urgent things. And before we know it, we’re standing somewhere we never intended to be, wondering how we got there.
That’s when we have to stop. Look around. Remember. Recalibrate. And choose again. Perhaps that’s what this season is for me; choosing again. Returning to the work with pointed intention. Returning to the words. Returning to the ideas that have been knocking on the door of my mind, waiting patiently for me to answer. Returning to the course. The reminders are always there. you hear them; something in a dream, a line in a movie or song, a word from a stranger, or a thought from the ether. You hear it calling. Calling you back to where you left off because the course doesn’t disappear just because you stepped away from it. The dream doesn’t expire because you get distracted. But eventually you will … so let that inspire you. The calling doesn’t vanish because you got tired and the vision doesn’t become less valid because it’s taking longer than you expected.
Sometimes you simply have to find your way back. And when you do, don’t waste time beating yourself up about where you’ve been. Get back in the saddle. Get back on the path. There will be days when you question the destination. There will be days when the path seems too long. There will be days when everybody else appears to be moving past you, according to instagram, facebook, or snapchat. There will be days when the bank account doesn’t line up with the vision. There will be days, more than a few, when the applause is absent. Keep walking, one step at a time, because every season is not about arriving. Some seasons are about becoming. Some seasons are about learning. Some are even about surviving. It’s all about preparing you for what you wanted for before you even knew how much preparation it would require. So if you’re standing at that crossroads right now, take a breath, a minute, a day. Choose your direction. DECIDE. Then move. And if you’ve already chosen your path but you’ve somehow wandered away from it, that’s alright too. Turn around and pick up where you left off. You haven’t missed your entire story because you took a detour. But please don’t confuse a detour with a destination. And don’t allow distraction to become a lifestyle.
STAY THE COURSE. I say it again because sometimes the things we need most are the things we need to hear repeatedly: Stay the course. Stay when it’s hard. Stay when it’s inconvenient. Stay when nobody understands. Stay when the vision seems foolish to everybody but you. Stay when the first version fails. Stay when the second version falters. Learn, adjust, and rebuild. But don’t abandon the path simply because the path became difficult. That’s what makes the distraction the attraction. There is something waiting on the other side of persistence that talent alone cannot reach. And maybe that’s why I’m back here. Not because I have figured it all out. Maybe, I’m back because I’m still figuring it out. And if you’re reading this, maybe you are too. So welcome back. Or perhaps, more appropriately… Welcome forward. The road is still there and the work is still calling. Right now, there is still time to become everything you were created to become. Take the step in front of you. Then take the next one. Don’t worry about seeing the whole road. I’m only asking you to take the next step, one at a time. And whatever you do… Stay the course.
Notes of A Native Son 