The first draft is where we begin. It is where we play and explore and allow inspiration to descend upon us. It is not where we make sense, pursue, make final. The first draft is simply where we open, like a thirsty mouth, to drink.
What if we approached big life decisions this way. If a change or transition could be initiated as a first draft, where we focus less on making everything right and we simply begin, make a start.
It snowed in New York yesterday. There are messy, wet piles all over the city. There was irritation in the air. It was a day of feeling disoriented and without clear direction. Distraction and things that, if not today, eventually, need fixing.
Sitting down to articulate a first draft (of anything) is all about immersion in the process; it doesn’t seem to be getting us there but it is the clearing of a path that makes arriving possible.
This week I spoke with Sharon, my coach, about a shift I want to make in my own life. We explored the metaphor of me carrying a suitcase. What was inside. Why I carried it. How I would abandon it. I imagined a woman I had seen on the street earlier, pictured her dragging her luggage through snow. This conversation with Sharon was my first draft. Incomplete, significant.
The first draft cares less about perfecting and more about articulating. It’s a foot in the boot; an arm in the sleeve; getting the parts in more or less the proper place.