Be Real Magazine

Issue Ten: Free Write
Scintillations
The Beach
Remembering You
Julie Day
Current Events
Sex And The Country
Stirring Up The Dust
Letter to My Younger Self
More Letters To
Younger Selves
Moody Girl

Photography
Cover: Box of Skeletons
Hello
Pipe Hive
Clouds
Pegasus In Ireland
Subway Guy

Poetry
Spring
A Lesson In Wholeness
A Child's Light
The House That He Built
Summer Night

Contributors
Readers' Comments
Websites We Like

Artists In The Making
Project

Workshops
Play With Your Words
Making Friends With Money

Contributing

Future Issues
Issue Eleven: Play
Issue Twelve: Synchronicity

Previous Issues

Julie Russell

I have spent years avoiding fear and risk. However, the moments I have taken risks, pushed my limits, and acted despite my fears were the best times of my life.

The last few months I've procrastinated on my dreams. I yearned to grab the tiger by the tail but the same old fears were holding me back: What if I fail? What if I fall flat on my face? What if...? Instead of tackling my fear head on, I hid in my predictable safe life.

I recently discovered that there is no juice in a predictable life. There is an illusion of safety, a feeling of security, but there's no juice. My life becomes a shriveled grape on the vine, without enough moisture to make a raisin. All the passion evaporates. All the joy dissipates. I get trapped in a maelstrom of thoughts about what's wrong with my life, what isn't working, and get swallowed up in my resignation. I feel stuck and I'm convinced I will always be stuck.

There's only one way out of this rut:

Jump! Leap! Pursue!
Take massive action and see what happens next!

Only when I am in action does life become interesting and inspiring. Only when I step out beyond who I know myself to be, can I become who I haven't been before. This new territory is a breeding ground for fear. But at least there's juice in the fear. At least my blood boils, at least my head spins from a new threat instead of a familiar old one.

The ticklish uncertainty is what I crave. There is delectable joy in taking risks. There is little fun in certainty. Circumstances stay the same when I don't stretch myself, don't grow, and don't push my boundaries.

It's time to LEAP and see where I end up.

Speaking of leaping, we have a few new writers for you in this issue. I am not sure how they found us, or what inspired them to submit their writing, but I am grateful. We all enjoy working with the constantly evolving flow of writing talent that magically appears in our email inboxes. The idea for a "Free Write" theme started as an inside joke because we couldn't come up with something that sounded like a "real" theme. But our contributors took the theme and ran for the goalpost.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for writing. Thanks for being on the field with me.

Julie Russell
Publisher
Be Real Magazine