Message in a Bottle

Backstory: Just last week, I flew to New Jersey to attend the Next Level Author workshop, hosted by Mike Michalowicz and AJ Harper. I stumbled upon a bookstore in which I got lost for nearly an hour. Not literally lost, but I couldn't stop looking, imagining, and soaking it all in. A journal called 500 Writing Prompts captured my attention, and I bought it. Then I committed to using one random prompt per day to share with my readers. Selfishly I also want to practice my writing, nurture my voice, and embrace the creativity that has been caged inside me. Here's my 500 prompt journey, I'd love for you to follow along. 

Today's Prompt: While at the beach, you decide to write a message in a bottle. What would it say? Who would you like to find it? 

What are the chances of you finding an actual message in a bottle? It’s a scenario that’s you’ve only let fall off the tongue in random conversations with who knows who about who knows what. Since that’s most likely the case, and it's not likely you find such a gift each time you visit the ocean, I want to make this special for you. 

Dear Finder,

If you can find a message in a bottle, you can find anything. You can find your confidence so that you can act on your dreams. You can find the freedom to walk away from what burdens you and doesn't bring you joy. And, you can find the courage to stand up for what you believe in and know is right. You can find it, whatever it is you're looking for. 

           It wasn’t by chance that you found this bottle and are now reading these words. It was meant to be all along. Just as I was meant to spot this 500 Writing Prompts journal at Indigo bookstore in Jersey, you were meant to spot this bottle that’s traveled quite the distance to find you. 

           It was looking for you the entire time. As the words flowed out of me, they were already on their way to you. Each word curated by my heart and a result of my fingertips, told the universe how to control the direction that our bottle would move. 

           It knew that you needed affirmation—hope—a sign that you can and you will. Because that is indeed true. This message just knew it before you did. It knew you needed to hear it, and it knew that I needed to be the one to tell you. 

           Sure, you could have read about it in a blog or saw a graphic on Pinterest which said the same thing, but this is different. Because it’s a message in a bottle, it feels more special and rare, like it was really meant just for you, because it was. 

           Finder, you are brave, and that childlike passion we are all born with is still in you. Want to know how I know? Because if it weren’t, you would have never picked it up. You’d have never allowed yourself the freedom to believe. You would have never had the confidence to tell yourself that it was meant for you. 

          This message is yours now. Do with it what you wish, but always remember, it was meant for you all along.

-kc 

If I were at the beach and decided to write a message in a bottle, this would be it. It doesn’t matter who I’d like to find it because it would find them. It would flux, drift, and circulate to it get where it was meant to go. 

What about you? If you decided to write a message in a bottle, what would it say? And who would YOU like to find it?

Tell me please. I need to know.

What's coming up: 

• Fix This Next for Healthcare Providers official launch, July 19, 2021.
• Systemizer School, Early Bird Rates