You Can Still Keep the Faith
There are times in our writing lives when not only do we feel discouraged, but we may feel like people around us are alsodiscouraging us. It may not be their intent; they may simply make a joke about your “hobby”, or throw up their hands in amused frustration at your puddle of tears over your secondary character’s death. And you may be able to laugh them off. After all, you do appreciate your dead character, is well, fictional.
But if those comments hurt? You may feel alone on this journey.
But what if you could reframe your perspective on their comments? My client Daniel Valdez, who’s working on his amazing memoir, writes that he sometimes in his youth he used to feel unsupported about the choices he was trying to make in his career and his life. But through the power of memoir, he was able to bring new insight into this period of his life. He determined that “people who discouraged me weren’t saying I couldn’t make it; they were just saying theycouldn’t do it.”
Brilliant, right? Someone in your life who can’t possibly see how they would devote the time, energy, despair and euphoria that you do to your writing life, may not say what you’d love to hear. But by recalling Daniel’s wisdom you can shake off the discouragement. Because it’s not you, it’s them. (And by the way, I believe in you, so you’re never alone. 🙂 )