When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a writer. (And a vet and a teacher and a psychologist.)
Stephanie displays her keen fashion sense at an early age.
The writing thing stayed with me.
At 13 years old, I saw an ad for the Institute of Children’s Literature. It was a sign! It was my ticket to becoming a real writer.
Only the course cost $400, which I didn’t have.
My generous Aunt Cathy (who also bought my brother and me a set of encyclopedias before they went the way of the dinosaur) agreed to pay for it.
I was ecstatic. “I’m going to be a writer!”
I was assigned a mentor and got to work on my first assignment. It was a short story about two kids who lived on a farm where someone was mysteriously stealing the chickens. I don’t remember much about it, except that it was sprinkled liberally with “y’all”s and references to “Maw and Paw.” Never mind that I knew nothing about life on a farm — I was stoked!
My mentor sent me some encouraging criticism, and it was time to progress to my second assignment.
And I stalled.
I don’t know if it was the critique or the fact that it dawned on me that doing the course was actually going to be WORK, but I never finished it.
I wasn’t willing to pay the price.
I’m thinking about that today because it’s January. Goals and New Year’s Resolutions are top of mind.
I’ve been busy plotting and dreaming of my future, and helping my clients do the same. It’s easy to get caught up in the planning and forget…
There’s always a price to pay.
If I want something different — whether that’s being a real “writer” or becoming a world-class coach — there’s a necessary price to get it.
Every transition and every change we make comes with an (often unacknowledged) price tag.
In terms of a time investment. The money spent. It’s the cost of all the things we’re saying, “No,” to so that we can have this one, “YES.”
Are you willing to pay the price to get what you want?
There’s no shame if your answer is no. When I was 13, I just wasn’t ready for that level of commitment.
If your answer is yes, recognize that there will be a cost. Prepare yourself to pay it. Spend some time considering what it’s really worth to you and what you’re willing to sacrifice.
Sometimes the hardest price to pay is giving up who we think we are so that we can become who we want to be.
