The internets served up an image to me a while ago: an ID tag engraved with Your life is made up of two dates and a dash. Make the most of the dash. I’ve carried around that image in a folder of Stuff to Find Later for months. Years, likely. It’s the same message as the Carpe Deum, which you’d think would appeal to the smartysnob in me, or YOLO, which… yeah, no. But Make the Most of the Dash appeals to me. I relinquish control over the dates to a Higher Power, but the dash? That’s all me.
My dad has taken to saying that any day when you wake up is a good day. I’m pretty sure that came from my Uncle Jack. I want to have that optimism. I spend my days practicing gratitude, but sometimes, I have to wield that optimism like a sword against the anxiety that has been growing (largely) unchecked for a while now. Sometimes, anxiety wins the day. Sometimes, gratitude does. So I’ve asked my favourite nerd to help me set up a blog where I record the encounters with life that happen as I’m out there making the most of the dash. But the other part is that I don’t want this to just be the struggle part. Yes, there’s anxiety struggles, but there’s also some pretty great stuff in my world, and I want to share that part, too. And the reflection projects I do at Lent, Early November, and Advent need a real home.

A colleague told me that I have great wordsmithing skills. Another friend said I have skills at telling stories. Even if the same thing happened to her, she couldn’t tell the story as well. I took that as a huge compliment. And one of the professional development tips from Micro Learning Monday was to blog. Apparently, the universe is shoving me in the direction of storytelling.

So here we go, then. Time to start living the dash.