A New Chapter (Pun Intended)

A number of things have been happening in my life. These are good things, things about which I’m excited. I’m always amazed, however, by how much stress can come with change—-either good change or bad. I think most people (myself included) think about stress as something that comes up in a negative situation—-when you have too much to do, when you’re worried about something, etc. Stress also comes with excitement, or at least it does for me!

I am thrilled to say that I have been accepted into graduate school (a master of fine arts program in writing for kids), and I’m set to start the program in January. This is something I’ve thought about doing for a long time, and finally decided to bite the bullet and apply this summer, not knowing if I’d be able to get in. Now that I have, I am excited and nervous. There is much to do to prepare, and I’m having trouble sitting still long enough to do any of it!

My goal over the next few weeks is to take the time to organize all of the stuff around me—-at home, at work. The act of cleaning and organizing helps to calm me. (Organizing the outside somehow gets through to the inside.) Hopefully then I’ll feel a bit more calm and settled. But I don’t want to feel too calm and settled. This is, after all, a time for good change.

On the day I received my letter of acceptance to grad school, I woke up feeling oddly distant from the world and yet focused. As I drove to work in the morning, I thought, Now is the time to take a chance. Now is the time to do something different. I’m 28, and there is more to me than what I’m doing right now. I’m 28, and that is a great time to be bold. Things happen in order because when I checked my mailbox that evening, the large envelope was waiting for me. And I knew it was time to take a chance.