Being a writer
An artist
A filmmaker
A songwriter
A sculpter
Anything
Self made is very difficult
You have to combat
Self doubt
Worthiness
You have to defend your creations to others – even if it is silently – in your head, behind shuttered eyes
Justify
the time that they take
To others
And to yourself
Am I good enough?
Is this work good enough?
Is the constant refrain
The soundtrack to our lives
And when we plunge deeply
The dust piles up
And the washing
And the paperwork
And all the ten thousand things that a mean voice
Says
You should be doing instead
Because it is more worthy
That voice in your head
That never shuts up
Climbing over the hurdle of your own self judgement is one of the most difficult things to do
Made worse if some dickhead decides they know better than you what you should be doing with your time
But there comes a point
(Some may call it the f$&@k off point – sorry you’ll have to read the book for that one – it’s only in the book)
Where you realise
We are dying
Blessed with a terminal curse
We begin dying from the time of our birth
And with this finite timeline hanging over our heads
Is opinion, judgement, criticism even worth the paper where you will rarely find it written?
No
Let the haters hate – they are usually people who have done nothing, risked nothing, been nothing and never will be
How sad for them
Let the ego prattle on about “omg people are looking and judging and what if this is a complete failure and I look like a loser?”
Yeah no you’re not – anyone that gets out of their comfort zone and has half a crack at something
They’re winners in my eyes
Stop listening to any of that noise
And instead turn within
Say to your soul
“Thankyou, I’ll accept this dance”
And then
Dance on
Header photo: my youngest son dancing with my niece at a family wedding. Pat is my greatest supporter and immediately bought a book – to be loved and supported by family is one of my greatest blessings.
My husband never comments on the time I spend locked away writing other than to shout down the hall “do you want a coffee?” He listens to my excited chatter when I find something new – and he loves my poetry.
Blessed. I hope the poets and songwriters and artists who follow me are uplifted a little today. We are empty buckets for encouragement – it doesn’t go to our heads – rather encouragement leaks out within seconds – but one nasty comment can sit in the bottom of that damn bucket like a dog turd.
No more
Keep dancing 💃🏼
