Heroes Not Zombies

In the A to Z of Becoming, I’ve chosen a different verb to focus on every week, starting with a verb beginning with the letter “A” and moving forward through the alphabet. We’re down to the last three now, and if you’ve been following this so far, you’re probably wondering, “what verb starts with an x?”

Well, I wondered about that for a quite a while too (wonder was last week’s verb by the way) and I reckon “xylophone” isn’t a verb, and while I could have chosen “X ray” (which you might think I would have done, given that I’m a doctor), I haven’t done that. I could have mused on looking below the surface of things to what lies on the inside, but I’m not doing that. I could have chosen “X marks the spot” and considered the “here” element of “be here now” – as in “x” marking the spot, right here, where we are now.

We rented an apartment on the outskirts of “Aix en Provence” for a few years, and if you know a little French geography, you’ll know that that beautiful town is pronounced “X en Provence”. That gives the locals a mass of opportunities to use the sound of the letter x at the start of words to describe some of the town’s attractions. I’m going to use one of those this week.

X is for Xcite!

Yep, I know that in English “excite” starts with an “e” but this week it starts with an “x”!

I want to look at this verb from two sides.

What, or who, excites you?

and

What, or who, do you excite?

Think about these questions and maybe take your notebook and see what you can list. When do you feel most excited? Do you feel excited very often? I think it’s wonderful to see little children bouncing with excitement. They are little bundles of energy and happiness in those moments. We lost that, don’t we? I’m not suggesting you start bouncing like a child (but if you want to, please go ahead and give it a go!), but I am suggesting you specifically ask yourself about “excitement” in your life. There must be something, or someone, you find excites you, even if not currently.

And, spend a little time too, on the question, what, or who, do you excite? I reckon we don’t think that way very often. We don’t often consider how we create excitement, where we create excitement, or who we create excitement for.

Go on, make this week a little more XCITING!