So now Ive asked Ann to please just sit down and write, step-by-step, exactly what she buys and does to put together her wonderful vegetarian meals, and we will take this and put it into a How-To book and voil shell have the book shes always been wanting to write and Ill have a real guide, one I can use, to enjoy the foods I know I ought to eat but just cant make tasty enough by myself!

Hmmm, writing this article which seemed so challenging to me at the start hasnt been so difficult after all. Maybe because I havent tried to come across as anyone other than myself, as knowing anything other that what I know.

Some people have the knack of putting into words an experience in such a way that it just encapsulates and describes everything so perfectly. I think I kind of felt that if I couldnt do that, then I shouldnt do it at all. If I couldnt be perfect, I had no business putting words on paper for others to read at all.

This is what happens when we go into comparison mode maybe. Or when we are just starting out on a new learning experience we can barely play chopsticks and want to be Chopin already.

And guess what its quite liberating to know that Im going to put this article out there, for you to read, and its not perfect and its not literature and thats OK, its my creation, my baby so to speak, and I feel good about the fact that Im actually doing this! Im talking about stuff which is important to me and putting it into my own words and someone out there is going to understand exactly where Im coming from, and my words might make a difference in his or her life. Even if I start out a little clumsy, and fall down often, Im starting out anyway. Thats the point! I feel stretched by this, and I feel a little trepidation, and a little fear, and definitely a little identity crisis. But Im not going to let this hold me back, not this time.

Again, I read somewhere that if you think about the actual feeling of fear, and the actual feeling of excitement, those feelings have no physical difference in your body. Both manifest in a dry mouth, a little shakiness, a few butterflies in the stomach. The difference is in the THOUGHTS you have about the feeling.

So maybe this same feeling comes over you just before you climb into your new car we label it Excitement. And the exact same physical feeling comes over you just before your interview for a new job we label it Fear. But which label empowers us? Excitement, right? This is what is meant by taking responsibility for our thoughts we CAN choose our attitude to life experiences by choosing how we will label them and thereby what kind of thoughts we will have about them. And this in turn generates a totally different experience. How about that!

So heres to your excitement, heres to your taking a stand and making a new move. And heres to me learning how to make more sense in my writing, to gaining experience by simply taking each new step as it comes, but yes actually taking the next step. Not quailing from fear and self-doubt and letting those labels stop me from doing anything I want to do. Heres to taking the next step!

Alison