Dare to Disappear
A Poem for the Ending of a Year
To disappear is to dare to be
Something
Other than what you were
Yesterday
More than the blips
And bleeps
On a screen that beckons
Your attention
More than the urgent buzzing
Of a world
You can barely understand
But nonetheless
Belong to
To retreat is to advance
Into another unknown—
One that lives within
You
Who are more than a player
On this inner stage
Of being
You
Are not the audience or the actor
But the very board
On which the game is being
Played
And as soon as you see
This
You start to become
Visible.
P.S. My good friend Kevin Kaiser and I are co-hosting a live call this month about what it means to intentionally become a ghost in your life—to withdraw from the pressures and demands of the world to find a deeper truth. I’ll share about my experience of being a ghost writer and more about recently deleting all social media channels, as well as why I’ll be taking off next month.
This is an open call to everyone (paid and free subs alike). The details are below. I’ll send a reminder beforehand, but please save all this info.
Date & Time: November 21, 2023 at 3:30 Central Time (find your local time here).
Location: Zoom (recording will be available to paid subs only). Make sure you save this link and show up on time. You can also dial in (here’s a list of local numbers to use).
URL (this is the link above, but if it’s easier to copy and paste, you can do that): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81229756377?pwd=TzlaZlM4VGRKRXhldndxL0VZU3R4QT09
Meeting ID: 812 2975 6377
Passcode: ghost
P.P.S. Here’s a great post from Kevin about lessons learned from becoming a little more invisible in your life (and what it means to have something to say once you decide to reappear).
I think this poem is very well written. Thank you for sharing!
Wow, this topic is one I can relate to! Sometime last year, I realized that it was such a squeeze to attempt to get to social media (I was only really using one platform) because it's no longer a priority for me in terms of preferred hobbies. I usually posted to share sweet messages about our babies (which I now save somewhere that is specifically for our children) or thoughtful reflections about love, family, friendship, hope and kindness (I keep writing the messages and I still want to share them, but not necessarily on a regular basis at the expense of doing other activities). I accepted that it was okay to stop mentally "trying" to get to the platform (and have since started sharing some of the reflections in a newsletter!).
I also relate to your message as I recently simplified how I spend my evenings (this included putting my newsletters on hold) so that I could write and read more, and I'm SO happy with that. It's amazing what you can do when you approach things with a fresh perspective and mindset (I shared more details on this in case it helps here: https://doingthewritething.substack.com/p/writing-tip-7-know-what-your-character).
Thank you for sharing!! I am very passionate about topics that help people follow their heart and spread kindness, including being kind to oneself and what's in one's heart too.
This:
To retreat is to advance
Into another unknown—
One that lives within
A deep yes from me.