Everyone must have heard the phrase, “think outside the box.” I have a card that I framed written by Edward Monkton, titled, The Butterfly of Freedom. It is a picture of a box filled with butterflies with one flying on the outside. It reads:
“Why do you fly outside the box?”
“I fly outside the box because I can.”
“But we KNOW the box. We are SAFE inside the box.”
“That my friend, is why I leave it. For you may be SAFE… but I AM FREE!”
How exactly do you think outside the box? Because we are told it is a good thing, but never told how to do it. For years I did stay within a box, staying married and in jobs that didn’t fulfill me, but making ends meet, making a living, and surviving in the “real” world. It gets scary when you move outside the box, it is unknown. When I left my husband I had no clue how I would support myself. When I left my job I had no clue how I would support myself. When I enrolled in school I had no clue how I would juggle it all. I still have no clue. The difference today though, is that I have a connection with a God of my understanding. Thinking outside the box takes practice and courage. It takes qualities that I lack at times, but what I lack, my spiritual connection makes up for. It took me at least ten years of living on my own to figure out that I could buy sugar cereal. I grew up on Cheerios and Golden Grahams, always craving Lucky Charms. When I was 28, One day in the grocery store I purchased a box of Lucky Charms. I had crawled out of my first box. Starting small helps. I painted my toenails five shades of purple the other day. I never knew that was an option, because I was stuck in a version of how things are done. Breaking out of that was a mini spiritual awakening. If I was never aware of pedicure options, can you imagine all of the possibilities out there, just waiting for me to discover? God is so much larger that Cheerios and five red toes. God can also be more that making 75$ writing an article for the newspaper. God can be more that staying in an unhappy marriage or job. Scary stuff, but with a little nail polish I think I just might be able to save the world, or at least make a little dent.
● About Me
I wrote and published my first blog post on May 26, 2009. I was about to turn 36 and had been accepted to Mount Holyoke College as a non-traditional student, on my way to completing a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Medieval Studies. I had managed, finally, to know what general direction I was traveling. As a self proclaimed voracious reader I knew that I needed a vocation that would allow me to engage daily with words: reading words, writing words, and hearing words. I also needed to eat, so I navigated my way to a teaching position and I began to fine tune my craft. I love to teach and I love my students, but I also needed to continue to hone my own literary technique, voice, and style. I continued my education in order to delve deeper into literature, making connections, and most definitely, writing. I gained more confidence as a reader as well as a writer of both creative and analytical text. That first blog post in 2009 is short, the writing average, and the topic mundane, but as I continued to learn from other writers I began to understand that to become a better writer I needed to write more. Each time I write and release a poem, a post, or a story, I hone my skills. I invite you along for the ride, for this journey of mine as I attempt to wrangle a wealth of ideas and competing directions into an organized freshly paved path to publication. I might get distracted along the way, but sometimes those detours lead us to amazing views and new friends.
Laura Smith Writer 
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