Do the Scary Thing

Do the scary thing.
Remember when you cracked open your ribs?
So that you could grab your own heart
From deep, deep inside

It wasn't easy
When you bore the soft
Pumping organ
To the light
For the first time
The entirety of your love
An offering of your soul
Stretched out, exposed
In the palm of your hand

Like a small seed, fragile
And brave
Ready to serve the one love you have ever known
To be oceanic
Remember how much effort it took?
How much it hurt?
To pull that seed the cavity of
Your breast bone
Knowing that you must 
Do it over and over again

Do the scary thing, always. 
​Open your palm to
Kiss a seed farewell
Offering it to the unknown waters of
What might be
That drives the circle of life forward
Through joy and adventure
Death and despair

Because you are not who you were one year ago.

Do the scary thing.
Step onto the center stage
And say what rumbles in your core and rattles your bones
Knowing that you don't know
What will follow
Who will hear you
Who will ridicule you
Who will care

Say the things that scare you most
The words that surprise you when they tumble from your throat
The ones that are hard to eat 
And harder to swallow

Do the scary thing
Say “no”
To the nouns and verbs that you love
To make room
For the ones that fill you up
For the “HELL yes” 

Say “no” to the potentials and their
Attractive advice
Say “yes” to yourself
The gut feeling
The somatic tingling

Say “yes” to the scary thing.