I decide to spare us all the image of a dead carcass, opting for this spritely-posed wooden figure instead. 
As an eternal optimist, I have personally imagined myself going to the next level of attempting to resuscitate deadness {dreams, relationships, hopes, etc.} … My default battle-cry: “It could happen!”
At times, it was like I held on — white-knuckled — to the handle of a large wagon full of deadness! Dreaming of the day it would jump back to life. 
That practice was buried this year — along with that dang wagon!
It was part of my do-or-die deadline for accepting the aspects of my life that I cannot change.
We need to trust ourselves; and allow as much time as we need to get through the hard things {grief, illness, death, loss of relationship, career or dream, etc.}.
It takes as much time as it takes.
One size does not fit all.
But something in me clicked a year ago: It was time. Facing my own fifty-year mile marker was as good a time as any!
Goals are dreams with deadlines.
~Diana Scharf Hunt
So. I did it. I set a deadline: December 31, 2011
That was my deadline for facing, adapting and dealing with the stuff in my proverbial wagon. It was time. It was so-o time! 
Dreams are the eraser dust I blow off my page.
They fade into the emptiness, another dark gray day.
Dreams are only memories of the plans I had back then.
Dreams are eraser dust and now I use a pen.
~Kelli Schmidt*
I stopped erasing, Braveheart. And I started writing in pen — in every color I could find!
It was messy and painful, tedious and overwhelming — and totally worth it! It was time!
We all want stuff; we all hope and wish for certain things to be different. And we all confuse goals with pipe dreams and half-hearted wishes. Oh! And … we all avoid deadlines. 
We are afraid to say “Yes!” and to say when … to the goals {and the dreams and wishes} we keep wrapped so tightly within us.
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want. ~Ben Stein
And the second: Letting Go
And the third: Wrap duct tape around your perfectionism. 
Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent. ~Mignon McLaughlin
☆҉ ——— waving #magicwand {just in case you needed it!}
Is it time for you?
I would love for you to announce to the world what you will say both YES and WHEN to … And I would love for you to write about it in the comments below.
Related Posts: It is time to live | NaNoWrimo posts
*FYI—I only post quotes that I cannot confirm origin. This quote is also cited as being by Edgar Allan Poe … Which I have to doubt due to both the prose, no reputable verification source and the history of the use of a pencil with an eraser.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
how wondrously rousing!
but you got me here: The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want. ~Ben Stein
you know how there is always some let-down after a momentous event? like a kid after christmas. there is the releasing and settling after something is as big and bold and beautiful as it’s going to be, and we get back to our 9 to 5s.
i think this is where i am right now. the last few years have had so much purpose and drained me, at the same time. it was exhausting and i did some of the most difficult things i’ve ever done. sometimes i secretly wonder if i’ll do anything meaningful ever again. life goes on, but what do i want out of it?
Rain: Perhaps it is a bit like exercise of the mind and spirit when we dare to venture deep into unknown territory. The thrill of the unknown and doing what we believed was impossible carries us through that season. Once we conclude a particular season … We are left with the very question you ask:
What do I want now?
That we embrace that the work is merely showing up … ala Pressfield.
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