A Quote That Will Truly Inspire Any Widow!
EPISODE 160
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships were built for." This is one of may favorite quotes to get me motivated! It's by Paulo Coehlo, author of the bestselling book, The Alchemist.
This quote has many meanings, but to me it exemplifies how we try to stay safe, tucked away in our own little world, staying out of harms way. The loss of our spouse has left us feeling insecure and vulnerable.
The thing is, it's okay to stay in port for a while, to regroup, to recoup. But we're not meant to stay there forever!
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE:
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships were built for.” This is a quote from Paulo Coehlo. Paulo Coehllo is the author of the book, The Alchemist, which, this book has sold like 85 million copies worldwide. He said that it only took him 2 weeks to write the book because it was already written in his soul. Ah! So beautiful.
But, let’s get back to that quote.
Here it is again.” A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships were built for.”
Let’s think about that for a minute, shall we?
To me this quote has so many meanings and it exemplifies how we can stay safe, tucked away in our own little world, to stay out of harm.
And for a grieving person, for someone who has gone through the loss of a loved one, we crave safety. We crave security. Because we lose that feeling when we lose our spouse, right? Our person was our safety net. They were our safety blanket at night. And without that we feel so vulnerable, and unsteady, and uncertain.
We let fear be our guide. Not all of us, but many of us feel that way.
We crave the feeling of safety. We go straight into survival mode, and we try to protect ourselves because we suddenly feel so exposed.
And we stay that way for however long it takes to heal. For however long it takes us to process our grief. We can stay at port to regroup and reassess.
But we’re not meant to stay there.
A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships were built for.
We’re not just here, on this earth, for this short amount of time that we have, to just make it through it alive, just to make it through unscathed, to just claw our way through it, right? That’s not an enjoyable way to live.
That’s not why we’re here. That’s not why we’re built.
One of our WidowSquad members just said this in our meeting the other day. She said “I’m tired of surviving. I want to live.” And wow. That is how so many of us feel, right?
There is a time to grieve. And then there is a time to go back out to sea, to experience life, to participate in life again, fully and with excitement.
Are you in port right now? Or are you out at sea?
You may feel safe in the port but is that why you were built? Is that why you’re here?
This is one of those quotes that always motivates me.
I hope that it’s sparked something in you, as well. Maybe opened up some thoughts about stepping into the world again and really living it, really experiencing it, while you have the opportunity.
And I know that thought is scary, right?
It’s not easy, but you can do it. You can do it.
I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please pass it forward and share it with a friend if this is something they need to hear as well. You can subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review.
Also, if there are any other quotes you would like to share, I happen to be a quote collector and I would love to hear it. You can email me at jen@widow180.com
