Charge

I've been pouring through monologues, stretching once again, pushing myself to learn lines and practice pretending to be someone else.  One that I'm especially drawn to is by a character from a play by Eric Kaiser called "Charge".  In it, Martha is basically wishing her life could be like the stories in songs... stories where people suddenly realize their life needs to change, and then it changes within the span of three minute's worth of music.  She leads you into that short, yet completely transforming process, through making choices and seeing things in a new way, quickly.

I think about how powerful it is when a person realizes they need to charge forward into life.  I know several people who have lived that example.  People who have inspired me to dive and leap and twist and stretch more than I ever dreamed I could.  It's such a scary thing to do; no guarantees, no reassurances that what is waiting on the other side is something better.  I've thought about how life makes the choices for us... sometimes too quickly, too unexpectedly.  And we're left feeling like we have no options or we didn't have a warning sign or time in which to deal with all the emotional upheavals.  I sometimes think a person gets to a point, eventually, after either one such event... or a series of like events... where they feel propelled into.  Pushed forward, even though they might not have thought they wanted to go in that direction. 

I'm finding it incredibly amazing what happens when you decide to listen to your heart, let go of your fears, rise through your insecurities, take charge, grasp the unknown and hang onto nothing but your boot straps.  Surround yourself with the kind of people who value your worth.  Who genuinely believe in you.
Those who help you find your inner compass that tugs and nudges, lighting the way through any darkness.

Life humbles us.
It reshapes us.
It takes us on this ride that sometimes feels like we're hanging upside down.
Life.

Life.
Just saying it seems to evoke something deep inside that makes me want to open my arms as wide as they can open and run into it as fast and as long as I am able.

Three minutes.  That IS all it takes sometimes.  The length of one beautiful song.  Decisions made.  A breath taken.  A heart beat.  A turning point.  A recognition.  A realization.  A shift.

Charge!!!  And keep charging....