It may seem a bit strange that a 37-year-old woman is writing about the inspiration she found in a book for preschoolers, but bear with me…
Scaredy Squirrel by Canadian author and illustrator, Mélanie Watt, is, on the surface, a cute, funny and charming book, but, one night, reading it to my 4-year-old, I realized something… I AM SCAREDY SQUIRREL!!
Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. He’d rather stay in his safe and familiar tree than risk venturing out into the unknown. In Scaredy Squirrel’s nut tree, every day is the same. Everything is predictable. All is under control.
This was me, four years ago. I was working as an administrator in Corporate Recovery and Personal Insolvency. It wasn’t just boring, it was soul destroying. But it was relatively easy. It was secure. It was well paid. And yet… it wasn’t what I wanted to do.
After my son was born, I realized I didn’t want to set him this example. I wanted him to grow up with a mother who was living her dream. I quit my job and began working from home, writing for a living.
Scaredy Squirrel falls out of his nut tree and… something incredible happens. He starts to glide. Scaredy Squirrel is no ordinary squirrel. He’s a FLYING Squirrel. He feels overjoyed! Adventurous! Carefree! Alive!
My new career was going well. I enjoyed it. It was inspiring and exciting. I felt overjoyed! Adventurous! Carefree! Alive! At first.
From then on Scaredy Squirrel adds jumping out of his nut tree to his daily routine. And yet… everything else is the same. He’s stuck in his nut tree rut.
And here I am. Working from home. Writing. Doing exactly what I wanted to do. And it’s relatively easy. But it doesn’t challenge me. I’m jumping out of my tree, but then clambering back in and looking at the view.
Reading Scaredy Squirrel made me realize that jumping out of the tree isn’t enough. I need to jump out of the tree and stay out of the tree. What I don’t yet know is what to do when I hit the ground… I’m working on it.
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