Once More Into the Breach

When I applied to college, we had to write an essay responding to the poem, "What Will You Do With This One Wild and Precious Life?" (Polite nod to Mary Oliver)
The essay itself was one of my best works at the time, and the question is one I constantly return to; What will you do with this one wild and precious life?
I remember writing that essay and feeling the complete rightness of my path, the absolute, innocent arrogance that came from that confidence. I remember pouring all of it onto that page and knowing that it was absolutely, unequivocally the right thing to write.
Eleven years later, that blind confidence doesn't really exist anymore. I lost it. It chipped away under the stresses of disheartenment and disillusion, and I was exposed, like every soul throughout history, as just one more fool.
And you know, that's okay. That's my journey. And slowly, grudgingly, carefully, I'm learning how to be okay in my skin, and accept the new pieces I've gained with that loss.
And still, every year that question returns. What will I do with this one wild and precious life?
Amazingly enough, the original answer still applies. The answer in that essay; minus the bold, ignorant confidence, but with some new determination, a little more openness, and an acceptance of the possibilities.

I am going to tell the world stories. I am going to share adventures with people from far away places and quiet moments with the people just next door, and I am going to help them all remember their value so that maybe, even for just an instant, they're a little less alone.

So Happy New year, 2018. I look forward to sharing the wild and precious life with you all.