courage Archives - Writing From The Kitchen

Color Outside The Lines

April 11, 2019April 12, 2019by Erika K Rothwell4 Comments

“Do one thing everyday that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Challenge your boundaries, allow them to stretch your status quo, courageously step out of bounds at times even if not within your comfort zone and expand your creative horizons. Protecting what we have always been, doing what we have always done will bring us the results we have already received.

Perhaps our past experiences, fears and expectations of others and ourselves have darkened the outlines of our potential, holding us back. Sadly, we may hide behind walls containing our gifts neglecting the work that defines our unique contribution to this world.

Follow the lead of a child where lines don’t seem to exist, only possibilities. Flawless work is not the ultimate goal and individual expression comes naturally as they move freely and fluidly through their creative process.

Through years of setting up borders and boundaries for ourselves, we unknowingly create an outline of our envisioned lives hardened with continuous and tedious strokes keeping us functioning safely within the lines. Over time, after producing generic pictures colored within the lines of our own making with repetitive skill, it’s no wonder that creative inspiration often fades away.

Don’t let your self-imposed limitations close you in. Allow your creative imagination the expanse of an entire coloring page of life, rendering your authentic self in your artistic expression, as you relearn to color outside the lines.

P.S. I love you all.

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courage, encouragement, hope

Hope – The Fuel of Courage

January 19, 2019January 23, 2019by Erika K Rothwell2 Comments

“And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear, but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear.” — Paulo Coelho

Slowly, I trudge on. Fear tries to stop me in my tracks. When I speak of fear, it’s not panic or fright dreading something horrible. Rather, an uneasiness that lightly gnaws at my confidence causing me to believe that perhaps I may be a little too bold to tread in a world of unknown outcomes with only hope in my backpack.

My writing has grown from the seeds of momentary epiphanies to an appreciation so great, I desire to encourage and inspire with insight. This monumental endeavor creates small episodic heart flutters and vague insecurity. From a past of seeking accomplishment for recognition, my concern is remaining authentic on all levels.

Yes, we all write what we know, but some days I feel I just don’t know.

This unknowing creates a stumbling block that could potentially grow into a mountain. It is here where I seek to encourage myself with words of resilience and put fear where it belongs, buried by hope. And so, I have reset courage and continue my journey.

– Erika K Rothwell

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hope

Hope Dances – A Note on Optimism – Day 15

January 17, 2019by Erika K Rothwell3 Comments

“Life has its own rhythms, we just have to learn how to dance.” – Cristian Andrei Nica

Self-expression is discovered in each individual’s dance style. We all feel the rhythm differently, uniquely perceiving the tempo as each of our steps moves according to the way we feel it.

It’s difficult to think your way through dancing. You must embrace and engage the music with your heart.

When you feel what you write, your words dance with the rhythm of your life.

There can be no naysayers as they look upon your heart. When we don’t feel well with our soul, we may look upon someone else’s joy as self-serving. Yet it is the example of a joyous heart that feeds us hope.

Lately, I question whether I’ve become a little too optimistic. And I realize I may have just learned to dance without worrying about what onlookers may think. Others who have ventured before me have given me that courage. I share openly with an audience I do not know personally, yet feel connected to on another level.

Am I offended that you may not like the way I dance?

No, I appreciate your perspective. For it is in the differences that we connect.

I believe it is not for us to examine another’s motivation. Optimism drives my hope that we can all learn to appreciate someone near or far who has taken the struggles that life has handed them and learned how to dance!

I look forward to continuing my journey while reading and being inspired by yours. You make “dancing” all that much more special for me.

-Erika K Rothwell

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