A House Guest

Last week, I was overcome with the persistence of an Idea I've had before. I bumped into it again, somewhat out of the blue, and this time my Idea is louder and brighter than ever before. This time, it arrived on a one-way ticket and showed up with oversized, matching luggage. To stay a while.

I guess my Idea can sleep in the guest room. That seems apropos, since that room doubles as my office - which is where most of my writing and project work takes shape. There's a Murphy bed in there with new pillows and bed sheets. It will be comfortable in there.

My Idea seems to have a lots of advice to give, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet. They are solid, transactional thoughts on writing proposals, networking and buying web domains. And I keep having to book time so we can sit together in silence, and wonder whether we're a step ahead of ourselves here. Whether this surprise visit from my Idea is a good idea...now. Smack in the middle of the holidays.

It's funny though. I keep trying to think and justify my way through this; to rationalize with my Idea about whether or not timing is right or if I'm getting in too deep, too fast. And I'm reminded that sometimes, my Idea can't be reasoned with; that in fact, it mostly answers to my heart. Not my mind.

My Idea is here to stay, at least for the short term. The guest room already looks well lived in, and the laundry is piling up. But overall, I love my new house guest.

We'll see how far we go together. Step by step, checking in often with how this all feels, along the way:

Right = lit up, happy, alive.

Wrong = painstaking, stressful, misaligned.

I choose aliveness.