‘Why pursue a quest?  Because each of us in our lives writing our own story, and we only have one chance of getting it right.’

Chris Guillebeau reminds me why I’m making this move out of my work of 36 years and into dreamwhispering and doodling: we have one life to do the thing we must do.

I came upon these words this morning, following another anxious moment in the darkness of the night;  I’d woken up wondering what was going through my head to act on such an idea.

Guillebeau tells the story of Phoebe Snetsinger – birdwatcher extraordinaire – who died in an accident on one of her expeditions.  Phoebe had written of her twenty years birdwatching quest:

“It has become even more clear to me that if I had spent my life avoiding any and all potential risks, I would have missed doing most of the things that have comprised the best years of my life.”**

When I look back on the last ten years of experimenting and exploring that have led me to this moment, I realise, these have been the best years, and, because endings are only beginnings, the promise is that the best years of all are still to come, every day providing the possibility of becoming a better me and making a greater contribution.

Today’s has been a more personal post, but only because what has been true for Phoebe Snetsinger and for me is true for all of us, only your quest will be different.

(*From Chris Guillebeau’s The Happiness of Pursuit.)
(**Phoebe Snetsinger, quoted in Chris Guillebeau’s The Happiness of Pursuit.)