Where my heart will take me

Don’t stop believin’.
Let it go.
Be true to your heart.
Keep on movin’.
I’m goin’ where my heart will take me.

What do these five things have in common, aside from being fantastic songs? They’re words that I find inspiring. But more than that, they’re words I hope to live by in 2016.

Two more days. In two more days, I’ll be 32. While I officially surpassed my mother’s age back in August, it’s really just hitting me now, as I approach the first birthday she never reached. Perhaps this all seems a bit self-indulgent, but for some reason, I’ve always thought I would leave the world like she did – young, and with things left to do. There was – is – so much I want to accomplish before I die, and I had no idea how to cram it all in.

I really don’t know why I was so convinced I would be dead by now. I’m awfully glad I’m not. I feel like I went to sleep one night when I was 18 and woke up the next morning thirteen years older. There’s so much I haven’t done, and so much I still want to do.

I don’t feel two days shy of 32 at all. But then, I suppose no one ever does, do they?

What’s the point of life if risk is just a board game?

At any rate, as my thirties approached, I grew hyper-focused on achieving all the things I hadn’t yet done in life. I published a book. Heck, I published two of them. I submitted work to anthologies. I threw myself headlong into revisions.

Okay, so most of the things I was – am – bent on doing in life revolve around writing. And family. And travel. But I have the family that I want, and the travel is happening occasionally. I always thought writing would be the way I left my mark on the world, and I want to make sure the mark I leave is a good one.

That means I have my work cut out for me. Even though I’ve learned a lot in the last six years, I still have a vast amount more to learn.

Among other things, I need to let go of my doubts, keep believin’, and hold onto that feeling. I need to be true to my heart and keep on movin’, and not let things get in my way. I will see my dream come alive at last – I’m going where my heart will take me.

I can reach any star.