Here’s this week’s installment of Five Minute Friday. You might remember the task is to write for five minutes on a specific prompt word. The initiative was started by Lisa-Jo Baker who thought about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. She figured, why not take five minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing. She turned over the reins to Kate Motaung, where our faithful writers write and share their posts with others at our special place on Facebook at fiveminutefriday.com.

As an extra enticement, I’ve been using testimonials about the group and the exercise from other members as collected in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Flat. This week it’s Diana. I encourage you to listen to her words and visit the website featuring the wonderful corps of writers there. Who knows? Maybe you might be inspired to join in!

“It is Thursday night waiting with anticipation for a post from Kate. What will the word be this week? The challenge is to write for five minutes free writing no correcting the grammar or spelling  [okay we all do because, well, we’re writers and words matter], just free thoughts. This circle of writers has been part of my life since Lisa Jo Baker orchestrated Five Minute Fridays. At that time, I was new to the blogging world. I have to admit I was somewhat intimidated by sharing my blog, what would people say about my writing style. However what I found was acceptance, encouragement, friendship, and love. Lisa-Jo handed the reins to Kate and the circle has only increased in love and encouragement. From reading the other blogs, friendships bud like a rose, too many to name by names but you know who you are. Lastly, how amazing it is how the word is used differently by each one of us Five Minute Friday fans. Ready, the clock is ticking and the word is …”

The prompt this week is SETTLE. The timer has been set so it’s time to GO…

We all have a tendency to settle, don’t we? We have these big dreams, yet settle for the ho hum, the easy, the convenient.

Of course, those big dreams always require hard work. Thy don’t come by accident. So we settle … with maybe not the dream job we envisioned … perhaps not the glowing princess or Prince Charming we expected … with our relationships as we plod through day by day … with our avocations and hobbies and passionate interests sitting on a shelf collecting dust. Part of that is just life. Everyday is not a Hallmark moment. Most of our days are spent just getting by.

But, we don’t have to settle for mediocrity, for the humdrum, for the routine. We can energize ourselves to do more. We can follow our dreams — at any age. For example, I have been writing professionally for over 50 years, but only in the last few years have I been writing for fun, writing … STOP

... for myself, for the sheer exhilaration [and sometimes frustration] of sharing my thoughts with a wider audience for better or worse.

There will never be a better time to break the shackles of settle and follow the dream than today, right now. Or, as Mark Twain penned, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” He added, “Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ”

In other words, don’t settle.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterwards. — Benjamin Franklin