Have you ever noticed that when you’re holding back or hesitating in one part of your life, that the rest of your life seems to be holding back or hesitating involuntarily? I’m finally beginning to this pattern. It’s one that’s probably been active for a long time, but I’ve just been too distracted to realize it until recently.

Maybe you’ve been distracted like I have. You’ve been wondering what to do with your life, how to get to that next stage or level. It’s long been an internal struggle. But in the midst of that, you’re holding onto this one part of yourself — one area that you’d rather not let people discover too much about. It’s just this one part of you — how could it possibly be affecting your search for your hopes and dreams, for your calling? It doesn’t even have anything to do with your dreams!

Or so we too often think. I’m finding out that many times those things that we mistake as not good or important enough to be seen beyond ourselves are the very things that help us take our next crucial steps. (And every step is crucial.) Not that the hidden part of us is exactly our unfulfilled destiny. However, the process of opening up a sacred or hidden part of yourself can be just the encouragement we need to move forward in those other areas of our lives. Sometimes you have to open up what you’ve been holding closely so you can handle what’s coming next.

I’m looking forward to what the future holds. Yes, even in the midst of the very nerve-wracking decisions I’ve been facing on this new path, I have hope that the things have seemed to be just out of reach are sliding closer to my fingertips. Tomorrow I will start opening up the imperfect ideas inside my head in the form of a blog of fiction stories, and as I take this initial step I’m excited about the steps to come.