If you have writer's block, we have the cure #FiveMinuteFriday with @thegypsymama bit.ly/IqZkZaWell I do have writer's block, or more likely I have exhaustion block and the idea of getting a jump start with Five Minute Fridays seemed like a good idea. I have read my friend write some great posts with the prompts Community, Together, Gift, Loud.
— Jennifer Camp (@JenniferCamp1) May 4, 2012
Just a word to get you started and then you only have to write for five minutes.
Gypsy Mama set the rules. "On Fridays over here a group of people who love to go all out buck wild for the fun of the written word gather to share what five minutes buys them. Just five minutes. Unscripted. Unedited."
Seemed like a good idea for this morning until I saw the word, the prompt.
Real.
And then I sat there, for more than five minutes, considering that word.
Real.
I can't write about that.
But if I was to write here is the mess I would make of this word.
GO.
Real.
It sucks sometimes. Being real, letting other people be real, just sucks. It hurts at times. And it requires me to look beyond myself sometimes. It asks me to be honest with myself and to see the world honestly. Not as what I want it to be but what it is.
Real requires me admitting that the world is at times dark and harsh. It reminds me that my hope lies in the eternal but that the here and now are dark shades, lightened only by the glimpses of the goodness God did create in the beauty of nature and the sweetness of His children.
Real also means that when I hear the question, "Are you okay?" I answer it with the real that is now. Not with platitudes. Not with a yes built on pithy logic that of course I am okay because comparatively I am okay.
STOP.
Five Minutes. Unedited.
Unfinished.
This might have been more fun if I hadn't been scared of the word.
There is always next Friday.
Hi there! This is my first week doing Five Minute Friday, too! I loved this post, especially "Real also means that when I hear the question, "Are you okay?" I answer it with the real that is now." Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThere is probably a whole post, or blog series, behind the answering the question, "Are you okay?" Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Five Minute Friday! It can be scary to write when we're afraid of the topic, but way to go! Love that you wrote anyway and wrote through the fear.
ReplyDeleteBeing real can be painful and being honest about being real can hurt as we admit that we and our lives are not as perfect as we portray them.
ReplyDeleteI love your very real reflection on the word "real". Your "realness" did the word justice alone.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steph. I am at a place in my life where I can finally be present, no longer distracted by babies and toddlers and preschoolers fighting over trains. And it is a bit scary to be aware. I so wish I could sit across from you and talk and listen.
ReplyDelete