I am coming to think that part of living is giving yourself permission to do certain things.
I am learning the importance of giving myself permission to fail. This culture, our society, maybe people in general want to get it right, do whatever they do perfectly. From keeping a house to keeping a blog, from being a student to being a parent or a spouse, from daily work to living as a responsible person in society, we place a high value on doing it wonderfully. It’s o.k. to try for excellence, but I can get paralyzed and do nothing if I don’t let myself risk failing. In a sense, allowing for failure (which will happen sometimes, maybe a lot) allows me to let go of my fears and try to do the best I can.
I am learning the importance of giving myself permission to write, to photograph, to create. As I’ve given myself that permission, I have found myself learning the techniques and trusting my innate sense of what sounds or looks good. Acting creatively, whether writing or painting or making music or making your home beautiful or a score of other things, transforms the daily drudgery (life isn’t always common and boring, but the necessary routine usually becomes just that: a routine) into an adventure, a captivating path where the current moment fascinates and the one to come is an eagerly awaited mystery.
I am learning the importance of giving myself permission to trust God. I don’t know how God does what he does. I can’t understand his ways of operating. But I know God, the Creator and Source of life and creativity, works in my life and in the lives of a vast community of people stretching back centuries and centuries. I can give myself permission to trust God to work in my life. I don’t need to know whether to look for a sign or to step out and do whatever it is I’m considering. I suspect God does it both ways and likely a lot of others I haven’t even thought of. I can give myself permission to know he is active in and with me.
Permission to fail, permission to create, permission to believe, three things I’m learning to allow myself to do, three gifts I’m practicing giving myself and the people around me.
