This can be such a challenging feeling to confront, but I try to remind myself that writing, performing, and achieving can be like dinner.
Some dinners are fancy. They're a blowout of juicy steak, the freshest asparagus, melt-in-your-mouth skins-on mashed potatoes with butter and garlic (this is taking a turn and I'm getting hungry now).
And then other dinners are pretty basic fare that you'd have any night of the week. They're nothing epic to document or rave about, no photos to share, nothing memorable. Those boring dinners make up most evenings, most weeks, most months, and we need them to keep ourselves going.
It's great to have those fancy meals once in a while, but sometimes they are special because they don't happen often. So we savor them when they do come up, we remember them with fondness, and we carry on with the boring soup the next day.
It has taken me a long time to reach a point where the writing I've done over the past 7 years can be considered unengaged, even after a few successful pieces.
However, I persevered, even when I began composing random pieces years ago, despite facing rejection in the realm of social media and writing platforms. I am still here.
When you do something you love, it will still feel like work, but you won't have to work as hard to overcome rejection because you love the work and value yourself for who you are.
I love the way you compared this ongoing situation to the idea of hiking. I can truly relate to your analogy, visualising the physical and mental challenges I've faced during my many years in business. As I said, the key is to truly know what you are doing and why, which makes it easier to bounce back.
I think the expectation of linear progress is one of the many detriments of capitalism. We're socialized to believe that it is not only possible, but the only true form of success, to constantly and consistently "improve." But that's not how anything really works in the long run. Just like the rest of the natural world, virtually everything about us is seasonal and cyclical.
This can be such a challenging feeling to confront, but I try to remind myself that writing, performing, and achieving can be like dinner.
Some dinners are fancy. They're a blowout of juicy steak, the freshest asparagus, melt-in-your-mouth skins-on mashed potatoes with butter and garlic (this is taking a turn and I'm getting hungry now).
And then other dinners are pretty basic fare that you'd have any night of the week. They're nothing epic to document or rave about, no photos to share, nothing memorable. Those boring dinners make up most evenings, most weeks, most months, and we need them to keep ourselves going.
It's great to have those fancy meals once in a while, but sometimes they are special because they don't happen often. So we savor them when they do come up, we remember them with fondness, and we carry on with the boring soup the next day.
It has taken me a long time to reach a point where the writing I've done over the past 7 years can be considered unengaged, even after a few successful pieces.
However, I persevered, even when I began composing random pieces years ago, despite facing rejection in the realm of social media and writing platforms. I am still here.
When you do something you love, it will still feel like work, but you won't have to work as hard to overcome rejection because you love the work and value yourself for who you are.
I love the way you compared this ongoing situation to the idea of hiking. I can truly relate to your analogy, visualising the physical and mental challenges I've faced during my many years in business. As I said, the key is to truly know what you are doing and why, which makes it easier to bounce back.
I think the expectation of linear progress is one of the many detriments of capitalism. We're socialized to believe that it is not only possible, but the only true form of success, to constantly and consistently "improve." But that's not how anything really works in the long run. Just like the rest of the natural world, virtually everything about us is seasonal and cyclical.