Heartbeats.

Today I Skyped with my journalism teacher from Sydney. She is a bit of a legend. Not only is she knowledgeable and educated in the area of writing, but she has a way of bringing you out of your shell. She makes you feel capable. She makes you feel as if your writing is one step away from being heroic, mythical, distinguished.

This is what she told me today.

'Brit, you can write. I know that. But sometimes you need to step out of a writer's mind and just type. Type what's in your heart. Don't try to write with sophistication. Write so that a person of any age can read your work. Write so that anyone can understand your view. Make it effortless.'

I had never thought of this before. I guess when I sit down to write my thoughts, or in this case a profile piece about an undiscovered psychiatric nurse and his story, I dance around my words. I try to make them relevant. I don't just spill...

More importantly, I don't just live. Until recently.

This is my feeble attempt to just write, about how I need to just live.

Fear has set into every bone in my body, and I've used it to live life in positive way.

I was hiking a mountain in Northern Queensland with a friend on Sunday, and he asked me "Brit, what if you had only one year left to live? Would you do it differently?"

"No," I replied. And it was with that affirmative answer, I realised that I am living my life exactly how I want to. I may not be writing exactly what is on my heart. But I'm doing what is inside this chamber in my chest.It was at that moment, that I looked at the ground I was standing on.

"I'm in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I just hiked to an amazing view of an ocean that I've bathed in consistently for the last year, under a sun that has tinted my skin to a shade that deems me as a 'native.' Two days ago I dove on the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. I just swam in a waterfall. I did a road-trip around 'middle-earth' or New Zealand, not even two months ago. I spent a weekend climbing mountains and swimming on beaches in Queensland with amazing friends for Easter. I have lived in Australia... all of this and it's only April."

I continued on with these thoughts to myself... I will see my family this year. I will serve God this year. I will be in my sister's wedding. I will graduate from undergrad. I will continue to sponsor my child in Nepal. I will travel to places I've never been before. I will love unconditionally. I will build relationships. I will see Grandpa and Grandma. I will...

I feel blessed. I am so young. I have done so much. And I'm not doing it alone. I have made friends whom I will have for a lifetime. I have built relationships that are only getting stronger. I have made a life for myself and I love it.

And I'm in the process of reading the entire Bible.

It's simple. It doesn't need big words. I just I love life. It's effortless.


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