Writer George Eliot, also known as Mary Ann Evans once said, “I would not creep along the coast but steer out in mid-sea, by guidance of the stars.”
Have you ever played it safe along the shoreline? Eliot didn't, In a time when women wrote only romance novels, she gave herself a pseudonym and went ahead with her dreams of becoming a published author whose writing was taken seriously. She didn't play it safe in other areas either.
She isn't exactly role model material in the morality department, but she didn't hide that she was a mistress, not a married woman for twenty years. She was bold and sure of herself. She couldn't rely on looks; as rumor has it, she wasn't particularly attractive. And despite the disapproval of family and friends, she forsake those relationships to pursue her scandalous relationship with a married man. She demonstrated an unconventional boldness.
Despite her shortcomings, we can learn so much from her. Eliot was over 30 when she started writing, and was 40 when her first novel was published. As a woman in my 40's who started writing around age 30, I find that encouraging. I didn't figure out who I wanted to be when I grew up until 12 or 15 years after I finished college.
Eliot also said, "It's never too late to be who you might have been."
Who have you always wanted to be? What is your dream? It isn't too late to fulfill that dream and be that person.
