Lord, please help me to change - Judith Couchman

SMARTER, NO T HARDE RSometimes i t i s all working i n th e dark , but a workin gthat mus t b e done. . . . Yo u musn't eve n thin k yo uwon't succeed .I feel a sort of fury when yo u sa y that you won't suc -ceed. I want t o shake yo u t o your senses—shak e suc han ide a ou t o f you fo r always . . . . Makin g you runknown know n i s the importan t thing—an d keepin gthe unknow n alway s beyond you—catchin g crystaliz -ing your simple r cleare r visio n o f lif e . . . tha t yo umust alway s keep working t o grasp. . . .You and I don't kno w i f our visio n i s clear i n rela -tion t o our tim e o r not . N o matte r wha t failur e o rsuccess w e ma y have , w e wil l not know . Bu t w e ca nkeep our ow n integrity—accordin g t o our ow n sens eof balance with th e world. 3 9When i t concerned painting , Georgia pursued persona l visio nrather tha n th e applaus e o f critics. To outsiders , sh e sometime sappeared unreasonabl e i n her artistic pursuits, but for Georgia, whoneeded reasonable ? Sh e passionatel y followe d he r visio n an dchanged th e direction o f American art .y reading th e storie s i n thi s book, it' s apparent tha t I' mpassionate abou t biographies . The desir e ignite d severa lyears ago and hasn' t subsided . I especially enjo y reading abou tcreative and successfu l women: They inspir e m e t o keep cultivat -ing m y small measur e o f talent wit h th e hop e tha t someda y Imight mak e a difference.In the meantime and betwee n writing assignments, I'v e rea dabout authors , dancers , actresses , comediennes, photographers ,stateswomen, philosophers , politica l prisoners , roya l famil y mem -bers, an d others . After finishing a dozen o r s o books, I realize dwhat thes e women share d i n common: The y followe d an unshak -able, sometime s unreasonabl e urg e t o accomplish thei r goals .And with thi s single-mindedness, the y impacted th e world .Their live s also have taught m e about change .Whether w e decide t o change ourselve s o r th e world , w eneed a dose o f unreasonableness t o deafen ourselve s t o the crit -ics, t o keep going . Whateve r th e endeavor , ther e ar e alway speople wit h explanation s for why we should stop , or wh y we can't//. i