Dear Pogue,

Well you read my letter on being Windswept? Several other people certainly did and I received some feedback. The good stuff😎 The gist of it was that people actually like the idea of being eccentric, if only in some small way. That they know that there are things that they keep hidden away inside and would like to let loose.

My response? Why don’t you?

It’s been said that the saddest thing is to leave this world with your song unsung. A tune in you that has long lingered there but never been let forth. Unrealised potential. That thing you could have been, were born to be. Maybe you looked around and thought you’d be embarrassed or made fun of if you let it out. Perhaps you sing like me and it really, really wouldn’t sound great! Could be you don’t know what will happen after you sing and can’t deal with the uncertainty. But whatever your reason for holding back your song, your truly unique song remains lost to the world.

Well if you’re one of those who wishes they’d always had a go, done that thing, this coming week is a great one to start, Pogue. None better.

I know there’s an element of fear but fear is your friend although you don’t yet realise it. If this was a physical journey imagine you’d reached a river that you have to cross because the adventure is over there 👉 Until you cross you can’t explore what lies beyond, you can’t realise the potential,

That’s it for many. They step away from fear not realising it should be considered a friend standing at the doorway of a new adventure and making us aware. She tells us that we are about to step out and cross the boundary.

Now don’t get me wrong. There are occasions when fear, as our friend, warns us off doing something damned right foolish like driving a car at speeds where we no longer have control. But at other times she’ll help us understand we have potential to realise, otherwise we wouldn’t be feeling this. That we’re stuck in a rut, that there’s a cost to what comes after and consequences. We’ll become aware of the things that hold us back, the naysayers, the mockers, the potential not achieved at the first attempt (remember, no failures here, only lessons to learn), the consequence of casting off with no hope of returning to life as it now is.

There is a cost, so do the math as you stand with fear. She’ll keep you honest. Take your time. Still think it would be good to exercise that eccentricity you feel inside. Think there must be more to life than you have experienced to date. Maybe there’s a creative waiting to emerge but held down, held back. Whatever, we all know if there is another chapter of our life to write (and there will always be room for another chapter until the day you leave this world).

So this week? Good week for a decision? New adventure? Or a return to the familiar? I was going to say comfort but the comments I received after the last letter make me wonder how many people really aren’t that comfortable with life if they are honest. I wonder how many stand on the river bank every once in a while and look over, asking “what if?”

As said, the song with in you, your song, is unique and however you sound when you sing, it’s a beautiful thing. Are you singing it? And those who will tell you you can’t succeed and mock? Years from now they’ll be telling others that they once knew you

Yours, chatting with fear,

Wic