Dancing in circles with courage

In this letter, I reflect on being ready and running in circles, and I invite more courage. I also share images taken at the beginning of my photographic journey, five years ago.

Dear Reader,

What a strange thing it is to be ready for something in life. I rarely feel ready, even though I am constantly preparing for something. It’s a peculiar feeling, this perpetual unpreparedness — waiting for a specific state of being that might never truly manifest within you.

What if “ready” isn’t what you imagined it to be? What if you’re waiting for something else entirely and simply calling it readiness? Your “being ready” might, in fact, be the moment when you feel most exposed, most open, most fragile, and frail.

Yet your eyes hold the memory of oceans, the strength of something that transcends your bodily limits. It’s not easy to summon courage — the courage to trust that this vulnerable, sensitive version of yourself is, indeed, ready and capable of holding life as it unfolds.

I have always tried to run away from feeling stuck. I’ve escaped many times. For years now, this has been my path, and I believe it’s teaching me that escaping places and people — running away — only brings me back to where I began. I am, in fact, running in circles.

In sacred, all-encompassing life circles. Sometimes, I love them; other times, I want to deviate, to leave my path. But no one can truly leave their path.

As I share these words, I realize I’ve said this many times before in my adult life. And yet, now I feel a warmth spreading in my belly. Perhaps it’s the memory of that vast ocean in my womb, stirring a little foamy wave of courage within my guts.

Can I dance in these circles with a little more courage? Can I move with more ease?

Can you?

Lina xx

All photographs taken by Lina Juseviciute.