Always Further
Letter from the Editor as published in the March 2022 issue
We did it. We have survived the first two months of 2022 even though survival feels a little bit like being stuck: stuck in the uncertainly of a world on the brink of wanting to return to normal but also terrified of what that means.
I think we’re all tired of grieving what was lost and wishing for what may never be again. Wouldn’t it be nice to stop looking back, and instead focus on living to our full potential as we move forward into something new?
On December 31, I officially completed my stint as a nineteen year employee of an institution I served for most of my adult life. I left because I finally knew who I was with enough confidence to step out on my own into a full-time publishing career.
On a blackboard wall in an office long abandoned by a past co-worker were the words, ‘always further.’ I didn’t have much to take with me as I left that place behind, but I did snap a picture of that blackboard on my last day.
In Robin Sharma’s book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, he says: “One must not get caught in the thick of thin things.” Though I didn’t love the book, that single piece of advice informed some of my major life shifts. Like the blackboard that says ‘always further,’ choosing to not exist within thin things—within things that don’t build me up and motivate me towards my personal goals—was a life-changing reminder that I mediate on daily.
I have been working on a virtual workshop that is launching this month. In it, I share some of my personal journey, including what led me to start Blank Spaces. As I sat at my desk, pouring my heart out to the camera, blinded by the ring light and trying not to visibly shiver (because I had to turn off the space heater to keep the audio clean), I was reminded how important this community is; how the path to this moment was made possible by people like you who keep showing up to support emerging Canadian talent; how I have been made better by the people I have connected with. My passion for this heart-project was reignited because, as I listened back to the recording, I knew my gushing was not lip-service, it was gratitude.
The survival of Blank Spaces has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you and I am continually grateful that you keep trusting me to perpetuate the vision I was given six years ago and I’m looking forward to watching what happens over the next six years. I hope you’re with me for the full ride.
There is no backwards, there is no getting caught in the thick of thin things; a vision is never behind, it’s always ahead.
So don’t give up. Whatever your next step is, know that you’re not alone. We’re all reaching, we’re all striving. And the ones who grab hold of the other side are the ones who push ahead, who take another step, who know that always further is never stopping. And that is how we survive. That is how we learn to thrive in 2022.
Alanna Rusnak
Editor in Chief, Blank Spaces
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