We Are Alchemists, Let Us Transmute Our Sufferings Into Growth.
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Alchemy is the practice of turning base metal into gold, this we know.
It’s not easy turning life experiences into valuable lessons, because the process works both ways — gold can revert back to metal just as easily, if not more so. This transmutation is at the heart of my experiences. I’ve always seen my precarious beginnings as a blessing rather than a curse.
Prematurity and Cerebral Palsy both gave me an early appreciation for mortality and how little time we have as human beings. I’ve always known I’d rise above how I began and orchestrate my own existence — I would perform alchemy with every bad experience and turn it to little nuggets of gold.
Moving upwards in your spiritual journey (at least in my experience) can also mean friends falling away from you. This can be really, really tough. I believe we attract the people we need at the time — when I was in a low state last year, I attracted negative people who fed my need for connection and commiseration.
When I pulled myself out of that, they didn’t come with me. There was anger, tears, doubt, and times when I wished I was still on good terms. However, I cannot and do not regret the person I am now. I am better than I’ve ever been, and to give that up would be foolish.
I feel like I’m resonating on a different level now than even a month ago. I feel like I’m slowly being drawn home to what I always was and am meant to be: courage, love, magic.
I believe everyone has their battle to fight. Some will pick up a sword and run headlong into trouble, some will raise their game only when necessary, and some will be dragged into the fray.
I always aspire to be the first of these — it might be stupid, it might be short-sighted even, but I don’t want to miss a good fight if I can help it. It makes me feel alive, purposeful, and like I’m moving forward when I am actively tackling the challenges in my path.
Personally, I have found that idleness doesn’t serve me, or those around me. Video games, fairy tales and television all have their particular draws (often of story rather than escape, at least recently) but it’s essentially a waste of time to do these things when life is beckoning you forward into the latest adventure.
There are times when I’m still far from where I want to be, but I’m also trying to transmute my experiences into a better self, nature-savvy, eyes opened by travel and the human experience. It’s a rare thing these days that I just want to sit and be in someone else’s world for a while. I’m a writer and a poet; I make my own.
If they aren’t as good as the ones I consume, then I need to kick my skill up a notch — it’s a call that there is work to be done. I will not give up. Giving up, I feel, would be like forsaking my purpose and robbing myself of everything I could become.
To say I got here alone would be a massive disservice to my loved ones and those no longer in my life. Each one has helped me see a facet of myself, for good or for ill. Sometimes it may feel lonely here, but I’m never alone.
I’d like to thank everyone profusely for being the people they are, for holding a mirror up to my flaws and virtues, for pushing me to engage the fight once more and become better.
The first step on this journey was an awareness that I was wasting my time. Too much distraction, not enough action. I was scared to begin with. Hurt and angry at loved ones questioning my choices — but they did so because they love me.
The opposite was also true; resonating with negativity pulled me up short and made me realize that was not who I wanted to be.
Something else that has helped with the act of alchemical transmutation is eschewing negative labels. I used to call myself introverted, shy, even depressed, and a girl with an eating disorder, at one point. No longer — these things were never true, even if they were my skewed reality for a little while.
Please, don’t fit yourself into a box. You are infinite and beautiful and don’t need a box. Society doesn’t have any say over who you are if you don’t let it. My sister, remarkable, courageous and as human as the rest of us, calls these people sheeple. You weren’t meant to follow others.
Let’s stand beside one another as equals and bravely face our next challenge. Let’s perform alchemy!
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Josephine Hicks is a poet living her best life and listening to the call of the Universe for her purpose. She longs for a questing existence. Challenge is something she embraces (after digging her heels in a little…) and she is a fighter at heart. She loves love. Unable to settle for long, she is an adventurer. She wants to honor those who are the best at what they do. Fearlessness is her aspiration, and nature is her teacher. You could contact her via her website.
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