facing fear

So the peep has joined a local writer's group. Apparently, she was invited.  Invited.  The peep!  Can you believe it?  Don't they know that I, Seville the Cat, am the real writer in this here family?  MOUSES!

Anyway, Peep #1 joined this writing group and sure enough, right off the bat, she came begging - yes, BEGGING - to me for help.  Her exact words were, "Help!"  Okay, that was actually her exact word but you get my drift, I am sure.  MOUSES!

I have discovered that Peep #1 isn't used to writing stuff in her own voice.  When she writes, she writes fiction and hides behind either the plot or the characters or sometimes even both.  She never writes really serious stuff as I do and that, my friends, is why she needs my help.  As you all know, I write serious stuff all the time and when doing so, I use my own voice.

Dare I say it once more?  Sure, why not?  MOUSES!

So the scaredy-cat peep...

Hmmm...  Scaredy-PEEP is more like it.

So the scaredy-peep came running to me, begging for my assistance.  Figures.  We've been down this road before.

I, not being one to mince words simply said, "Give it here, Peepers.  I'll see what I can do."

Of course, the peep then complained, saying she simply needed help and wasn't asking me to do her homework for her to which I replied, "What do think I am?  Some kind of teacher?  MOUSES!"

Peep #1 then stomped out of my office in a huff as I called out behind her, "You'll get my bill in the mail!" although to be perfectly honest, I'll probably just paw it over to her and save myself a stamp.

So here I am, writing Peep #1's writing assignment for her.

Now Peep #1's writing assignment was about fear and/or courage.  Fear?  Courage?  Rather apropos, if you know what I mean.  Well at least the fear part is.

So let's get down to business and talk about this here thing called fear, shall we?  Let's talk about the peep's inability to write using her own voice.  Why she apparently can't do that.  Well the answer is clear.  It's all about fear.

That's right, the peep is too scared to write using her own voice.  Too scared to let other peeps see or hear what she really thinks and probably way too scared to hear any replies.  So when Peep #1 writes, she uses characters and plots to get her message across. Kind of a roundabout way of doing things if you ask me.

Now the peep would argue that I, Seville the Cat, use humour behind which to hide but quite frankly, I have to disagree.  I know there are peeps out there who do that but that kind of thing is simply not for me.  Firstly, I'm not a peep; I'm a cat.  Secondly, I use humour to entertain and not to hide.

If I were to hide behind something, I'd hide behind a piece of furniture or an appliance.  Or better yet, underneath one.  I mean, what is gonna protect me more?  A big ol' chunk of steel and wood or a little wee joke?  Seriously, think about it for a minute, would you?  Peeps can see right through jokes whereas they cannot see through carbon steel.  MOUSES!

Why just last week, my sister Constance had to visit the doctor again.  Yeah, she's been going there every week ever since she broke her leg but that's beside the point.  The thing is, Connie doesn't like going to see the doctor because - you guessed it - she's afraid.  She's scared.  It's all about fear.

But when Constance is scared, does she hide behind a joke as the peep falsely accuses me of doing?  Or does she hide behind some made-up character's voice as the peep actually does?  Of course not!  Connie is a cat and therefore, she's smart.  That's why when Connie hides, she hides behind furniture and appliances and the like.  In fact, last week Constance hid behind the chest freezer, the upright freezer, the trunks under the stairwell, underneath the living room chesterfield, behind those big old trunks a second time and even up on the ledge leading into the basement although truth be told, that last spot turned out not be a very good hiding spot at all as the peep could see her, plain as day, even if she was out of reach.  Bottom line is, forty minutes later, Connie had to go visit the doctor after all.

Now the lesson to be learned here is...  Peep #1 is way more persistent than anyone ever thought.

Scratch that.  A better lesson to be learned is that if you're going to hide, hide somewhere where you'll actually be hidden and not behind something silly like humour or someone else's voice or...

Nah, scratch that, too.  The REAL lesson to be learned here is that the best way to face fear is to do exactly that.  To simply face it.  Let me explain.

Six months ago, after my brother Nerissa's death, I was handed the reigns of this here blog, Nerissa's Life.  It was scary.  Scary as all get out.  I had never written a thing before in my life and now was expected to come up with a blog post twice a week, every week.  I didn't think I could do it at all.

But did I run?  Did I cower and hide?  Did I ask the peep to write my blog posts for me?

OF COURSE NOT!

I sat right down at the computer and tried to figure out how to turn it on.  Yeah, that part was hard, I have to admit, but once I had tackled the whole on/off switch thingy, I started writing right away.  I wrote and I wrote and I WROTE.  I wrote as much as my little paws could handle.  And once that was done, I discovered that I, Seville the Cat, could actually write after all.  There had never been any reason to be afraid.  There had never been anything to fear.

Six months later, I will admit that every now and then, I still do get a little scared about writing. Sometimes I'll find a topic I think might be too much to handle.  Sometimes I can't find a topic at all! Yeah, that can be really scary, for sure.  But as with all fears, the best way to overcome them is to face them.  To just go ahead and do it and that is exactly what I did.

So as I sit here at my desk, I'm wondering...  Should I press print and give this here text to the peep to hand in or should I go tell the peep that to overcome her fear, she needs to face that very fear itself. She needs to write about something serious, using her own voice and she needs to do it on her own.

I'm torn.  Torn between doing the right thing and pressing delete or doing the wrong thing, handing the peep this text and earning a little nip money on the side.  Decisions, decisions...  What to do?  What to do?

Hah!  Nip money always trumps all else.

"Oh Peepers....  I have your assignment for you.  And please pay with cash.  I don't accept cheques.  MOUSES!"

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Yesterday was a bittersweet day at my house.  Yesterday would have been Nissy's fourth blogoversary had my amazing brother still been with us, writing this here blog.  Yesterday was a day that should have been full of celebrations but instead, it was marked with such sadness, for we all miss Nissy so very much.  purrs