Show me Your Hand.

Showing your hand can be risky. 

It’s probably why most people don’t do it. 

I’m not much of a card player, but the few times I do play (uno), I never show my hand. 

Showing my hand is way too risky, it opens floodgates of possible reactions. 

Showing my hand is like showing my route to victory. 

I’m no longer the only one who knows, and you might make a move based on what you’ve seen changing everything for me. 

My hand, my secret. 

If I show you, I risk this game no longer going in my favor. 

Unless of course I have a handful of draw fours. 

Unless of course I pretty much know the outcome. 

Unless of course I know my chances of winning are high.

Showing my hand calls me up, it pulls me to do the thing I said I was going to do.

Everyone knows the hand I had. 

It’s game on, now I have to really show up.

Extra emphasis on making this hand work. 

It’s why every now and then when someone asks what’s going on with me, or worse, a more direct question like, “what are you working on?”

I tense up.

They are asking me to show my hand.

I don’t have all draw fours. 

I don’t have it all figured out. 

I don’t know the outcome. 

And so I respond with a fluff answer. 

Part of me knows if I really show you my hand, I also have to show you my fears.

If I show you my hand, you might see how much they are shaking, you might see the sweat in my palms. 

The goosebumps that have developed from talking about this thing I’m secretly so passionate about. 

But what if we aren’t opponents? And what if this isn’t a card game? 

What if showing you my hand led you to showing me yours, and what if we joined hands and did this thing together?

Giving each other a hand.