Team :: Five Minute Friday

Yes, Friday on Monday. A girl can dream, right?

I spent quite a while with this group of writers when Lisa Jo hosted Five Minute Friday. Some of my favorite posts came from these one-word prompts with five minutes to write.

Like this one about a red solo cup.

I’ve been burnt out lately. Ironically, the publishing industry is known for writer burnout. My publisher told me there is no better time to be a writer than the time before you publish your first book. After that, deadlines and expectations and marketing can make a writer drown and long for the days when all you did was sit down and bleed on the page and feel a smidge good about the results.

So I’m linking back up with Five Minute Friday, now hosted by Kate Motaung, and embracing that writing with abandon–and a five minute window.

TEAM

I’m in the habit of spreading myself too thin. It’s a sickness really. I hate to say no, I hate to disappoint, and above all else I really, really want everyone to like me.

It’s a problem when it comes to building deep, meaningful relationships. I’m never the friend who’s going to call you out. In fact, I can only think of one instance where I told a friend I disagreed with her decision. Thank God our friendship survived, but I’ve never done that again.

I’m scared.

Scared of not having anybody in my court. So I figure if I keep on giving, eventually, they’ll give back?

Not really.

I’ve been part of a lot of groups over the years. Young mothers. Mothers with elementary kids. Christians. Non-Christians.

But none of those groups have really taken me in, been my home team.

I’ve got a person here and there, but no cohesiveness. No these-are-my-five-people in this community. Instead, I’ve got one a couple hours away, one a state away, and a couple nearby.

And I’ve got five sisters and a sister-in-law which is its own kind of uniqueness.

STOP

It’s been a while so I’m going to cheat and add another minute.

Bottom line, I think I’ve been looking outside my true home to find something I already have. We aren’t built for close relationships with the whole world–or even the whole community–but we do have the capacity for a few, special people.

And when I look back on my life, those are always, always the people who put me on their team and allowed me in.

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Tell me about your home team? I love this quote from Shauna Niequest, “The first step is realizing that there is in fact a limited amount of time and caring and energy. I’m generally the last to admit this… Right about then, I start crying in the car and can’t figure out why. It’s usually because I’ve given more than I should to people who aren’t a part of my daily, regular world. They’re not the ones who need it.”

I think “daily, regular” in our world can also mean the friends across the miles. I know I have two and one of them gave me her own copy of Bittersweet by Shauna Niequest. There’s a lot of love in a dog-eared paperback, y’all.