Do It Anyway

The best thing one can do when it rains is to let it rain. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is a rainy, gloomy Sunday morning. Nothing is pressing on my schedule right now, and it is the perfect opportunity for a second cup of coffee, cuddling up with a good book or movie and staying in my pajamas a little while longer. But, I just don't want to be inside. My eye keeps wandering to the windows to see the raindrops falling and the way the light gives everything a subtle glow. I bet it is peaceful out there right now. It makes me want to feel the fresh air and hear the drops splash circles into the puddles. Logic tells me that there is no good reason to be out in this weather when I don't have to be. That whisper inside me says, "do it anyway."

There is a dog that must be walked, so I have my excuse. Raincoat, rain boots, comfortable old clothes and I am on my way. The thing about going outside in the rain is that once you are wet, completely soaked, saturated, you can't really get any wetter. You've committed, you might as well embrace it and really, what is the worst that can happen? Everyone has dealt with sneakers that never quite fit correctly after they became soaked, and the puddles that drip off of wet clothes and hair just inside the front door. Those things are annoying, and those inconveniences often persuade us to put aside those urges to go feel that rain and see that beautiful, rain-reflected light. Is it really going to hurt anything? There is that little voice again. "Do it anyway."

Sometimes life's decisions are a little more difficult than going out in the rain or not. More at stake, and more work involved. What if it doesn't work out the way we hope, or worse, what if it is a huge mistake that makes a mess of things that is so hard to clean up that you really, REALLY wish you hadn't done it? What happens if we just ignore the decision all together until passing time or fate makes up our mind for us? All good questions. All part of the process of decision making. Will we regret NOT at least trying it? When in doubt, do it anyway.

Every time I come here and write down my deepest thoughts about going outside, and watch my message wander to love, fear, food and philosophy, I walk away from it and have to make a decision as to whether or not these thoughts are really worth sharing. I have dozens of drafts sitting in 'maybe' status. Every single time it's as if I am standing in front of an audience, prepared to be evaluated and loved or hated or ignored. Why would I want to expose myself in such a way, just because I love to write? Every single time, I come very close to talking myself out of doing any writing at all. But I know I will regret those things I don't try much more than the things I do and I let that little part of me guide my finger as I hover over the PUBLISH button and say it out loud to no one other than myself. Do it anyway.