Saturday 30 May 2015

Today is a good day to have a good day.

Life is filled with highs and lows. If we’re lucky they flow in and out of our lives equally. If we’re incredibly fortunate, our tides rise high for a good length of time and our lows ebb quickly. While I am not without my woes, I count myself firmly in the latter group. Am I a glass half-full person, or is life truly beneficent when it comes to me? I think there is a bit of both at play, but it is also about the choices I make. I’m not talking about the big decisions in life, but the every day little things and how I choose to react to them.

Lately, it seems, many people I care about are falling apart. I had dinner with a group of colleagues (well, ex-colleagues, but I just can’t think of them as ex-anything). Their workplace is filled with strife, further stressed by the political climate surrounding their jobs. They are trying hard to stay afloat but are feeling thoroughly discouraged.
 
My writer peeps are struggling. Rejections from agents are piling up and they are fighting defeat. Many are getting form letters and the impersonal response makes them feel like their writing is not even worthy of comment. When an agent kindly provides feedback, they revise, they cut and they work to implement all suggestions. And, they are getting dizzy from it, worried about losing their stories, worried about losing their voices, worried that they will never find an agent, never be published.


My writing is simmering on a backburner. Maybe tomorrow I will take it off and continue to stir and add ingredients. It is what I say at the end of each day when I find that, yet again, I failed to add a single word. I stress about it for a few minutes, and then forgive myself. We are in the middle of packing up 30+ years of living and getting ready to move across the country. Loved pieces have been sold and other treasures are going into boxes and into storage, to be shipped out to us who knows when. We don’t have a home to go to yet.
 
Yes, life is filled with highs and lows. We cannot change that. The only thing we can do is choose how we react to it. As my world here slowly disappears into cardboard boxes, I choose to embrace the rush of excitement rather than dwell on the overwhelming feeling of getting it done on time, saying goodbye and wondering what the future holds. I haven’t flown by the seat of my pants like this since I was a teen. What a thrill to be young and courageous once again.
 
In my career, I had the luxury of regularly addressing around two hundred people, young and old. I always encouraged them to be proactive rather than reactive and reminded them that they held the power of choice. Each and every day I had the opportunity to reinforce that with a simple message. I give it to you now my colleagues, my writer peeps and my dear readers near and far:  Make it a good day!
 

10 comments:

  1. I choose to have a good day,but if something bad happens...it seems to be a bad day...but "the only thing we can do is choose how we react to it".
    So,if something bad happens it's ok,because I choose a good day.(maybe this sounds a little weird)

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  2. Although sometimes it is hard to see the good in the moment, I do believe we can put a positive spin even on the worst of days if we look hard enough.

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  3. Packing and moving is enough to do right now, Rose! Don't sweat the lack of words. They'll come back. I like your take. I'm a maybe it half-empty today and maybe it's half-full tomorrow sort. You never know which side I'll be on. ;-)

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  4. ZanMarie, we all have our ups and downs. I must say, in my experience with you, you definitely err on the side of half full.

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  5. Yes!! Right?!! I'd forgotten. "Make it a good day." It hit me between the eyes when I saw it in print text and I smiled big as I heard your voice saying those words!

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  6. Sadie, you are definitely a glass half-full kinda girl. You certainly helped to make many of my days good ones. :0) Thanks for popping in.

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  7. And I thought packing up ten years was hard. I didn't get many words while moving either. Take what you can get and don't stress the rest of the time. It is a time of change and great excitement. Hopefully, when you're done, you'll have a lot to write about. Good luck with everything.

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  8. Thanks, Spesh. I trust you are settling into your new home and beginning to ease back into writing. ;0)

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  9. Hi Rose, I'm sorry you haven't heard from me in such a long time but to say life has been stressful is quite an understatement, and now exams start to show up on the horizon... anyway, I just needed these encouraging words, and don't stress yourself on moving _and_ writing! I take it you have found a place to live in the meantime, that's wonderful! Oh, and I'm contemplating of printing either the "Today is a good day to have a good day" or the "Make it a good day" out and hanging it on my wall - are both a phrase coined by you or someone else? And if it's the first, may I do that (hanging it on the wall, I mean)?
    I hope today was a wonderful day for you and that tomorrow will be even better :)

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