Do you know why you have wings?

"Oh that can´t possibly be true",

I thought, when I read an interview with a man who said that tornseglare (common swift in English) stay in the air for two to three years after leaving the nest. Two to three years without landing! They even sleep (or at least "half-sleep") mid-air. As unbelievable as it seems, it is apparently true.

Flock of Birds Flying Above the Mountain during Sunset, Pixabay

I thought about this when my coach asked me why I -  who have written four published novels - am still reluctant to call myself an author. After some thinking, and some talking to my always supporting husband, I realized one of the reasons:

Writing is too easy for me to feel like an author. 

The stories just come in to my head and I write them down. That's kind of it. No struggle, no writer's block. No years of writing school. I just write. Sure, I spend a lot of time editing, doing research for my books, improving my story and my text and so on, but all of that is fun. 

To me that doesn't sound like being an author. It sounds like playing around. Or maybe like flying for several years without needing to land if you are a swift...

As INXS sang in Never tear us apart:

I told you

That we could fly

'Cause we all have wings

But some of us don't know why

Do you know why you have wings? Do you even know you have wings?

You have wings. We all do.

Why? Not to show off, not to make others who have a different set of wings feel small. To inspire. To make this world a better place.

There is freedom waiting for you,

On the breezes of the sky,

And you ask, What if I fall?

Oh but my darling, what if you fly?

Erin Hanson