I had an interesting conversation a while ago with a friend about what mid-life holds. Is it a juncture at which you look back on opportunities missed, hopes dashed, dreams deferred and resign yourself to whatever may come?
Or, do you see yourself at 40-, 50- or 60-something (and beyond) on the verge of new opportunities, just waiting to be seized?
Your perspective, and the actions you take as a result, make all the difference.
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote the first novel in her Little House on the Prairie series when she was 65.
One of my mentors sought and obtained her master’s degree in her early 70s.
I read an article recently about Etta Baker, a mother of nine who recorded her first album appearance as a blues guitarist in her 40s and went on to perform with musical greats well into her late 80s.
More examples abound.
So what chapters are you continuing to craft for the story of your life?
It’s not over until you decide to stop reaching, seeking, growing and pursuing. If you dream it and put some strategic thought, muscle and focus behind it, you can do it.
As April, which is also National Poetry Month, comes to a close, I invite you to enjoy this poem I penned a decade ago. It is based on the themes in my third novel, Watercolored Pearls — a longstanding reader favorite.
I hope this piece inspires you to embrace your worth as a “pearl in progress” and to pick up a pen and try writing a poem yourself! Whether it be for personal enjoyment, healing through creativity, or for public impact, just do it.
You may amaze, inspire and encourage yourself. For we all have something to say, and we’re all worth being seen, heard and valued.
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As we enter April, consider reflecting on your first 90 days of this year and give thanks for your life’s shifts – especially those that are helping you become a better version of yourself.
Just as winter shifts to spring in stages (more cold days before warmer ones consistently take hold);
and babies do practice runs (more wobbling before finally walking and toddling);
and tides cross a shore at their own pace (gently rolling onto a beach one wave at a time),
our human shifts are often gradual, and sometimes formidable. Yet if you look closely, you’ll also find that they are meaningfully worth it.
Consider how this process has unfolded (or is unfolding) in various areas of your life.
Give yourself kudos for not giving up, and for being further along than you thought possible. If necessary, challenge yourself to get up, get unstuck and grow.
Your future self will thank you.
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It’s another day and another week to give it all you got, and the invitation this week is perhaps both simple and challenging, depending on your perspective:
One of my intentions this year is to bring my whole self to every role I embody, because all of Stacy shows up as the fiction writer, the nonfiction inspirational writer, the strategic communications professional, the mom, sister, auntie, friend and community volunteer.
With that in mind, while I will primarily continue to post in this space about my inspirational musings, my novel-in-progress and other author-related news, I’ll also be sharing occasionally about another endeavor that’s close to my heart: an opportunity to advocate for children and foster communications for a greater good.
I’m excited to share that I have joined the global nonprofit organization Children International (aka CI) as the Global Director of External Communications.
(To those who’ve inquired, yes – I’ll still be based in and involved in the Richmond, Virginia community, and I will continue my creative writing and occasional writer coaching.)
Here’s to those of us who are multi-passionate! Writing remains my foundation, and I’m grateful for this and other opportunities to evolve, grow and experience where it leads.
Traveling to Colombia with Colleagues
My most recent adventure led me to Colombia. It is one of 10 countries (including the U.S.), where Children International is serving youths and young adults who exist in dire poverty and need hope to believe their lives can get better, along with tangible help to make it so. Eight colleagues and I traveled there from the U.S. in mid-February, to meet with some of those we serve and with our Colombian counterparts who are leading operations.
Since words won’t suffice, I hope the few images I’ve shared here (plus more you can find on my Facebook page), convey in some small way, the mutual joy felt by all of us to connect as members of the CI family.
These young people repeatedly offered thanks for consistent educational support, access to health care, life skills exposure, and positive role models who pour into them, when the lure of gangs, giving up on life, and other ills threaten to pull them off track.
They expressed how much it has meant to exchange letters with people who have sponsored them with monthly contributions since ages 3, 4 or 5.
They described how the opportunity to receive Children International scholarships that fund job training has allowed them to dream.
Before we departed, one of the teenagers thanked us for our work by declaring: “You are a grain of sand that helps us have better lives.”
I left their presence knowing they are more than their circumstances. They are eager to learn, grow and be the first generation to help their families thrive.
On one of our final nights dining together as a team, a Colombian CI colleague took us to La Cueva, a restaurant famous for serving as home base for the city of Barranquilla’s renowned journalists, authors and artists. Unbeknownst to her, one of the waiters for the night — a 20-something aspiring writer — had once been a sponsored child through Children International. When he saw the organization’s name on our group reservation, he proudly introduced himself as an alum.
Seeing him working in an esteemed establishment while continuing school and nurturing his creative goals made our collective day. It was a welcome reminder that our choices to go the distance with others can give them breathing space to find their way.
I left Colombia all the more convinced that it takes just one person to impact a life. By changing the narrative for one, we are rewriting the story for many.
To learn more about Children International, visit children.org.
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I’ve been on a staycation this week and just a few days in, I feel like a new woman.
I’ve cleaned my fridge, and filled bags of clothes and other stuff to take to Goodwill and to a local church’s clothes closet.
I’ve hooked up a new computer (on my own), although my son chatted with me during the process, in case I needed tech support. Lol
I’ve fielded calls from my daughter, the bride-to-be, who is on the countdown to April.
I’ve chatted with a few friends daily and lunched with two.
I’ve turned down a brief road trip and a complimentary flight. Why?? To simply rest.
Which leads me to what has been the most meaningful part of this week so far: allowing myself to sleep until my heart’s content and move at a “whenever I get to it” pace. (Today is my busy day for the week. I’ve scheduled a few appointments and virtual meetings, and if I owe you an email, it’s coming!)
My fellow author Saundra Dalton Smith, who penned the bestselling book Sacred Rest, would be proud.
Because rest is indeed sacred, and it opens up our well and our energy for creativity, deeper engagement with others, better appreciation for our blessed surroundings, and greater willingness to see and serve ourselves. (When our wells are full; we can healthily pour into others.)
I haven’t paused this week because I’m ill(I feel great!); I’ve intentionally paused to ensure that my pace for 2024 remains measured and meaningful.
I’ve paused to ensure that I center myself in being fully present and focused on enjoying the days, weeks and months to come.
This “rule of rest” for the week felt uncomfortable at first (those waiting-but-not-urgent emails and chapters to write taunted me), but as I’ve leaned into the leisure, I’m certain it’s preparing me to dive more joyfully and energetically into my storytelling projects and other professional endeavors, my volunteer activities, family milestone moments, looming travel, and much more.
I’ve shared this, in part, as an invitation to join me. If your January was busier than expected, consider making time in February for your own sacred pause.
You may not be able to devote a week, but gift yourself a day (or a few) to lean into sleep – as much as your body craves – and enjoy some good food, laughter, and pampering yourself in simple ways that matter to you.
You are worth it. And so are the dreams, goals, work, relationships and legacy you are nurturing. Trust the timing of your life, and in the process, your preparation and strategic rest, will align.
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I recently came across a photo of myself that was taken during my senior year of college and I’ve kept it on my nightstand for an occasional chuckle.
Yes, my pants are too big ( I was really petite back then and did my best! ) and yes, I remember where I was – in a friend’s dorm room, enjoying a surprise party thrown for me.
I look like I’m singing because I was. But can I really sing? Sadly not. I had fun trying, though, with whatever song was playing at the time.
I look like I was acting silly because I was. And guess what?
Beneath my sometimes reserved, often inspirational and occasionally feisty demeanor lies a woman who is still fun at heart and able to laugh at myself and with others.
I was 21 in this pic and considered grown.
What I’d tell that young girl from my now full-fledged adult state is actually what I exemplify in this photo: to always find joy in the small moments and sing (and dance) through the rest.
That girl didn’t always get it right and neither do I; but both versions of me have been, and remain, grateful for love, laughter, grace, life lessons and the journey itself – gifts that never age or go out of style.
This week, I challenge you to dig up a few of your own funny pics from the past and reflect on your treasured (or silly) moments from yesterday. May you be inspired to embrace new dreams, cut yourself and others some slack, and create more meaningful memories.
There are so many good and exciting things happening in this season for so many of us, while destruction continues to befall many around the world.
This is the yin and yang of life, and also the reason to keep watch over our hearts, our thoughts, our words and our choices. We may feel helpless, but what we CAN control or contribute to, we must.
Our truths matter, and so do our hope and faith, and our ability to see others and seek to understand them.
Let’s not give up on goodness or each other. Pray for peace in the Middle East, and for peace in many of the cities, towns and homes across our nation.
Instead of bending toward the culture and a “by any means necessary” existence, what if we tried living with a “because everyone matters” perspective?
Your one shift, and someone else’s one shift, and my one shift could perhaps, together, shake the world.
I wasn’t planning to share this on social, because it was such a special moment between my son and me.
However, in the past few weeks I’ve had conversations with several other moms who are in the trenches of parenting, and chatting with them reminded me that sometimes when you’re in the middle of a thing, you can’t envision the difference your commitment is making.
These conversations also reminded me that when I was raising young children and then adolescents, there were moms ahead of me on the journey who encouraged me to keep pouring and loving and correcting and guiding, and to trust that the seeds being planted and the care being rendered were a worthy investment.
It is with this in mind (and with his permission) that I share this sweet note that my 22-year-old son surprised me with back in August, upon finding an old English paper amid his belongings before he returned to college for senior year.
It reads “You are my super hero!” and the note explains that he had described me as such in a paper written during his sophomore year.
In the paper, he explored how super heroes often steal away to transform into their “super selves” and change the world for the better. In my case, he indicated that my super power was writing.
He detailed how, as a young child, he often watched me focus on completing my manuscripts on some weekends and some evenings, and rather feeling resentful, witnessing me fulfill a dream that would give hope and enjoyment to others made him proud.
What a gift that note and the recently found essay were to my mama soul!
And what a powerful reminder that our babies are watching us, and in doing so, learning how to write their own super hero stories.
So, to my friends who are in the hands-on stages of parenting: Don’t let weariness cause you to give up or despair. Trust that just as your efforts to nurture your children and guide their dreams is a gift to them, so is your persistence in leaning into your own heart songs and life’s calling.
You are their super hero, and someday I’m confident that in their own ways, they’ll tell you.
Share with Your Friends!
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I’ve been exercising my creative juices for the past month on a small, but special project that I’m excited to share with you soon.
What I’ve loved as much as the process of refining the words and getting the aesthetics just right (with a gifted artistic partner) are the friends and fam who have offered feedback and edits, burned the midnight oil with me to ensure that I create in excellence, and reminded me that as “Ms. #LifeUntapped” not only CAN I think and move outside the creative box of titles and genres, I betta!
This is what rising together takes.
Iron sharpens iron.
Vision multiplies vision.
Shoulders lower so you can climb aboard.
What matters most is the art itself.
There’s a tired-but-happy place feeling that centers you as you’re producing it, and eventually the joy that comes with hearing readers express renewed hope or joy or value after experiencing your words.
More to come on this project in early October. In the meantime, thank you to my tribe! When it’s your turn, the rising, sharpening, encouragement and lowered-shoulder moments will come full circle.
) and yes, I remember where I was – in a friend’s dorm room, enjoying a surprise party thrown for me. 
Still Unfolding with Stacy Hawkins Adams 