The Uncertainty of it All

It's raining. I'm writing. Here's why.

Dear Soulful One,

I’ve been thinking a lot about inevitable change—how it seems to be in our face now more than ever. How we stand in the middle of life’s scale, trying to balance where we are with where we think we’re going.

I think about my friend whose teenage son is in the hospital. Each daily text brings hope—he’s making a step forward—only to reveal how many more steps lie ahead. Another dear friend is quietly wondering if his job will survive federal cuts. As I prepare to facilitate a team retreat, I keep hearing the one who reached out: “Everyone’s being affected by the changes. It’s impacting how we show up.”

I can put myself in there, too.

And maybe you belong to this club of uncertainty—feeling it close against your skin, woven into your breath.

I won’t pretend to have answers. No tidy solutions in five easy steps. I won’t quote scripture or ancient wisdom today, though there’s always room for that. I won’t suggest we bypass it all and float away on a bliss cloud (though wouldn’t that be nice?).

But I will say this, time and time again:
Writing—whether poetry, journaling, fiction, or fragments of thought—is one answer to the creative and restless soul’s longing.

Write it down.
Even if you burn it later.

Write the questions, the pain, the frustration.
Write the memories, the dreams, the fears, the tears, the screams, the laughter.

Write it all down.
Not because it will make perfect sense, but because it will help make sense of this uncertain, sacred, messy, beautiful journey you’re on. We’re on.

Write for five minutes or fifty.
Not to produce.
But to be present to yourself amidst the chaos of uncertainty.

Ground yourself with the stroke of a pen or key.
Let the words and the magic of writing be a balm. An exhale. A truth.

And this, perhaps, will set us all, for one tender moment, free.

Yours in the midst of it all,

Jacinta

P.S. Join us for the virtual Soulful Writing Circle—an hour of quiet writing in community—next Tuesday, August 12, 7-8pm EST. Subscribe to receive the link!