The ark for arcs

I’ve spent most of my life building structures that carried other people — because I didn’t know how to build them for myself. I thought I was building them for myself, but I could only ever see the blueprint for one thing: an ark that carries 'everyone' through whatever storm we're living.

The metaphorical arcs, if you will. Life is full of them. That's a pattern I did not have words for.

It may not have seemed this way, but I learned early that the only way for me to feel safe is if I don’t rock the boat. It fueled the way I operated for decades.

It wasn’t until recently that I noticed I’m the only one who never gets on my own ark.

I’m too busy patching holes, making it presentable, running the internal cogs, and keeping it resilient through weather and water conditions and wrong turns and predators.

So this week, I’ve realized something I didn’t expect:

In this new chapter, I’ve built an ark once again to get over this real-life arc. And for the first time, I’m actually inside it.

I’m trusting the things I’ve prepared to carry forward, instead of trying to hold everything up from the outside.

And me being inside it… doesn’t mean other people sink. It doesn’t mean the boat goes down with all of us in it.

I am not only welcome aboard on my ark, but I’m steering it myself (well, with the team) and with more clarity than I know what to do with.

I know how to get to land, and I’m bringing everyone with me.

Let’s go.