I write stories and man, it can be scary. Lots of things work. Lots of things don’t — for a whole raft of reasons. As a writer, I’m excited to create the plots and the characters, but who knows if readers will appreciate the fact that I spent months refining it for their entertainment. I encourage fans to review my work, but not many do. I go to events meet excited execs and supposed movers and shakers, but for some reason, upon decision time, they’ve
decided to “go in a different direction.”
How many times over the course of our lives do we deal with these circumstances? What story do we tell ourselves?
I’ve decided to make my story an uplifting one.
I’ll keep showing up at these events and keep the conversation going. I’ll keep asking for reviews so I can spread my work via word of mouth. When I do get readers who understand the power of reviews, it reminds me how far I’ve come. I’ll continue investing incredible energy into creating and writing, whether I’m read by some or not. Because the story I choose to tell myself and the story I believe in my heart is that I’m making a difference, and it takes time to do that on the
kind of scale I envisage.
Another thing we need to do is make sure we check ourselves to be certain our personal story is serving us and isn't outdated or simply false. We are more than our stories, and we have the opportunity to revise and redefine ourselves through the choices we make. The world at large will try to impose its choices on us. But always cross-reference your beliefs against your experience, your experience against your knowledge and your knowledge against
your feelings. They are all essential aspects of you that must be considered when you create that story to drive you forward. Once you have that in place all we can do is to do the work, show up, create things, continue to show the world what we have to offer, and in doing so, our lives will be better for it. It might work out, it might not, but in the process we have become better for it and will undoubtedly feel more authentic and alive. That’s just about all we can control, so I’ve learned to
focus on just that.
After all nothing else matters.
