what is the best case scenario?
an apt result of a writing prompt for my first week back at work
Exactly six months. I stepped away from a place I called home for ten years and focused on myself for exactly six months. I truly couldn’t recommend it more. On Monday I walked into what will be my new home for the foreseeable future, working as Scripps News’ business & tech correspondent — covering the intersection of the economy, technology and science — tracking how innovation, markets and policy shape our economy and climate future. Which, if you know me, is just so… me.
But I wouldn’t have know how ~me~ it is without this time off exploring and networking. The last six months were filled with growth, anxieties, travels, the challenge to try new things, self-discovery and daydreaming. The short piece I’m sharing today, below, is the product of a writing prompt in my writing class that turned daydreaming into manifestation — word vomited out under the pressure of a ten minute timer about a month ago, all before one of my last interviews that solidified the offer. So it feels fitting to share as I close out one chapter, in between the start of another.
Prompt: What is the best case scenario?
“What if we get everything we ever dreamed of?”
“But they said someday they’d tell me no.”
What if no, wasn’t no, but “not right now.” Or, “not here?” What if you redefined what success looks like for you? What if you built your own path? What if you decide to stop saying yes to everyone else but yourself? What if you embrace that call to the mountains, the outdoors, the fresh air, the pines? What if you stop worrying about the clout, the connections, the awards, the follower counts? What if you let yourself log off and disconnect and know there will always be more to do tomorrow? What if you talked to strangers, for no other reason than to meet someone new? What if you put your phone down and pick up some clay, throwing it on the wheel with no plans other than to busy your hands and see what your body can create? What if you plug your phone into a speaker and blast a new playlist and just see what your body can create? What if you leash up the dog, let her do the happy dance alongside you when you say “do you wanna go running with mama” in that baby voice that’s only reserved for the dog? What if you just write, a pure stream of consciousness without realizing the smile on your face and the tears in your eyes, as the start of a novel forms before you? What if everyone else could see your value but you? What if you embraced you? What if you got everything you ever dreamed of?