think we’re all baby sugar gliders at one time or another – staring into the face of something new, something foreign, something that COULD be awesome but also could really hurt if it flops.
Thank God for those encouraging sugar gliders in our lives who remind us of the exciting possibilities of flying. Yes, failure may occur but life can offer so many AMAZING experiences when we’re brave and take a leap.
So if that’s you this Friday – that little wide-eyed, terrified sugar glider – then allow me to stand in the tree with you and remind you that you are capable, loved, and just might FLY if you go for it.
Ask her out.
Smile at the stranger.
Apply to the grad school.
Say goodbye and walk away.
Write the letter.
You might fall, but you also might fly. And that’s what sugar gliders like you were built for. You’ve got this.
{Just as a completely random but totally important side note: aren’t sugar gliders the BEST??? I knew this kid in college who had one (illegally) in the dorms. It would sleep in the pockets of his hoodies. Let me tell you, when you walk around campus with a sugar glider, it is a total girl magnet – maybe even better than a puppy. Not that I’m giving any dating advice here or anything…}
“Come to the edge,” he said,
“We can’t, we’re afraid!” they responded.
“Come to the edge,” he said.
“We can’t, We will fall!” they responded.
“Come to the edge,” he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.”
-Guillaume Apollinaire
PS. Out of curiosity, I just did some Google research for the source of the shorter quote – “What if I fall?” “Oh but my darling, what if you fly?” – because Pinterest and Instagram are nice but they do not count as sources. It turns out that it was penned by a young, 19 year-old poet named Erin Hanson. Beautiful. Erin, I’m your biggest fan!
PPS. If you’d like to own your very own original piece of folk-art brilliance, head over to the party on Instagram! I’m going to be sending these sugar gliders to one lucky person (or I could always send it to a friend of yours who needs some encouragement to fly). Go check out the instructions on the post to be part of the Friday fun!
Or as Sam Beckett wrote,
“No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
I love that! Fail better, indeed – you’ve never really “arrived,” which is actually a good thing when looked at in perspective! Thanks for sharing this, Adrienne. :)
I love both quotes and will share them with my fifth graders tomorrow! Grace, check out Anne Sexton’s poem “To a Friend whose Work has Come to Triumph” if you don’t know it. xoxoxo Gini
Gini, I’m so glad you reminded me of that poem! I have read it but it has been awhile – just found it on The Writer’s Almanac and savored it again. It’s brilliant!
That was really inspiring to read that interview with Erin Hanson. I’d seen that quote before too and assumed it was from a well-known poem I didn’t know the title of. It’s so cool that it came from a young tumblr poet!
Your sugar glider watercolor is also beautiful! It’s really neat to see the progression of your art for the blog.
As for the advice, I did take it! I went to a concert in a small mountain town on Saturday night even though I wasn’t sure how I was going to get home and wasn’t sure I wanted to be out all night. It was definitely worth it!
Good for you for going to the concert! I can relate to the feeling – it’s often hard for me to actually make the move and head out to do something but I always love it once I’m there. I hope to hear more details about the concert (the snapchat was SO GREAT!). Glad you’re enjoying the art progression. I never knew I’d have such a little love affair with watercolors but…geez, where have they been my whole life?!? They are the BEST!
Such an encouraging post… loved the comments as well. What if we just keep trying? In spite of failing or flying.
I just remembered I listened to an interview made to an Oscar winner about what success meant to him, and he said succes is pile of failures, and that success is overrated. What really matters is doing what you love and failing again and again.
Thnxs for your wonderful posts Grace.
By the way, you look wonderful today!
LOVE that comment from the Oscar winner! When you’re an outsider looking at the glamorous success, it all seems so glossy – but it’s such a good reminder that the triumph is really ultimately built on a big pile of failures and try-agains. What a great image!