I wrote for 5 minutes on one of my creative interests - theater - and here is what popped up:
“Actors need a kind of inner force. Don't be only one-sided, sweet, nice, good. Get rid of being average.”
Stella Adler
I just want to type those words over and over again, shout them from rooftops. Get rid of being average. Get RID of being average. Just stop it. Blow it away. Get rid of it now.
Today someone I highly respect called me a warrior.
That isn’t average. I want to continue NOT being average and if that compels me to enlist as a warrior for a spell and fully integrate and accept this mantel of warrior so be it. So be it.
Most of the titles I carry I wouldn’t have elected for myself.
Who says “I want to be a special needs mom. Oh, so fun!” or “I want my first child to be born dead." Who says THAT?”
Get rid of being average.
Who wants to get death threats at work?
Who raises her hand and says, "Yes, oh sign me up for that run with melanoma. I want that one, please."
Get rid of being average.
I am a warrior.
I am not willing to be average. I am not willing to stay numbed out. I am not willing to stand idly on the sidelines and watch, fear nipping my feet, choking my voice.
No. No. NO!
I have been given a gift of words and a gift of performance. These are mantels I claim. These are costumes I wear proudly and vow to use, to stand up and wave about with in a peaceful, standing strong battle where people surrender the moment I walk in the room.
That has happened to me before: a school psychologist I frightened with my intellectual might. Get rid of being average.
By the way, I didn't get on stage for thirty years due to hurt and sadness and misunderstanding and poor communication. I hadn't been called a warrior yet. I hadn't heard yet that my real job was to get rid of being average.
Sometimes getting rid of being average means the assignments you are given divinely are not the ones you wish for, like my first child being still born – after waiting and trying to be pregnant for three years and then carry that child to almost full term only to have her arrive, dead?
I didn’t want that as my legacy.
I am a warrior.
I am setting aside any notion of being average, of being like those others.
Special needs sister: I am that and it was not easy.
Special needs mother: I am that and it is the toughest most difficult job ever.
I was not born to be average. I was not meant to be like the Jane on the street who hasn’t gotten it yet AND here’s the thing. My charge as not being average is to lift others up so they aren’t average either.
My task, my privilege my delight is to come alongside and use my creative gifts and interests to spark others to behold their OWN life and claim themselves as ANYTHING except average.
My writing timer forgot to sound. I was meant to say these things.
You and I - we are the ones who know the power of getting rid of being average, the numbness of "fitting in".
I wrote longer than five minutes and today, this is perfect.
I am a warrior. I am devoted to shake off any average remaining.
Watch me. Dare me. Hold me to it, and I will hold you, too.
Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!
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