A little encouragement!
I felt led to write this short article to encourage someone. Then perhaps I’m the one who needs the encouragement. Oh my gosh, how we all need a little encouragement from time to time, don’t we?
Yes, there’s always someone somewhere thinking of giving up. What phrases come to mind? ‘It’s too hard! I don’t have the time! I’m too old! I can’t do it! If it was going to happen it would have happened by now.’ And of course for those budding writers out there,‘will I ever get beyond the Slush Pile?’
Well let’s start with renewing our mindset, shall we? Get rid of some of those toxic negative thoughts and replace them with something positive. Now start again! All we need is a little encouragement from a friend and here you have it. Remember, no one said it would be easy, now did they?
Firstly, here’s a couple of points to ponder on before I begin. The success of these two characters speaks volumes to me about age and perseverance.
Thomas Edison’s teacher said he was too stupid to learn anything and he was fired from his first two jobs for being non-productive. His philosophy was never give up. When a reporter asked him how many failures he had before he invented the light bulb, and what he felt about all those failures, he replied, ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 1000 ways that don’t work.’
He also held 1000 patents for his other inventions. Interesting!
Colonel Sanders at 17 had already tried 4 jobs. He had many failures and disappointments throughout his life, and we are told that when he retired at the age of 65 years he was suicidal. Whether the facts are true or false, my point is that it was at the age of 65 he began selling chicken – his grandmother’s recipe – from his roadside restaurant in Kentucky. With the vision to franchise his chicken the rapid expansion became too much for him and at the age of 75 he sold his business for a sum that would be equivalent to 14 million today. The colonel retained shares and the position of the company’s Ambassador. The rest is history!
So, what’s your vision?
Maybe not as grand as these two men but, I truly believe that most people never do or become what they were born to be. The facts also tell us that 9 out of 10 small businesses fail. So what are we doing wrong?
A purpose for living is something we ultimately all need, and it is more than being someone’s partner or parent. Each and everyone of us is born with gifts and talents. We just need to discover them. Passion, motivation, direction, purpose. It’s all ultimately about vision. Where would we be without it?
There is a Bible quote which says, ‘without vision my people will perish.’ This is so true. Most of the people that I have met in life who suffer from depression do so because they have no vision or direction for their lives. I know people who have spent years procrastinating, doing nothing. Talking but not walking. I know that fear holds so many people within its grip but remember, fear is – False Evidence Appearing Real.
Many of us don’t want to leave our comfort zone because what if things don’t work out? But what if they do?
So if as writers we can just encourages one person it will be worth it. Life is not about how long we live, but what we do with our lives whilst we are here. Imagine this thought. If you don’t show up, something won’t happen. If you don’t do what you were born to do, someone else may do it, but what if?
What if only you could do it and you didn’t.
Don’t live with your regrets. Take a chance. Better to try and fail than live forever with, what if?
More to the point how would you like to be remembered when you have moved on and what will your legacy be? The battle for all things new is in the mind.
So, when you read this article with a deep breath and a prayer make those few phone calls, start the ball rolling. Pick up that assignment again. Write that story, that song or that script.
Don’t be afraid to be a visionary and remember;-
A vision usually begins in the heart and mind of one person. It often causes confusion, doubt and sometimes mass hysteria to those listening when it is spoken out. They are obviously not visionaries!
If you see it, feel it, know it, taste it, believe it, live it and breathe it. If it will not go away no matter how hard you try, then it’s more likely to be, than not to be.
Determination, guts, commitment, the willingness to be ridiculed, doubted and despised, seems to be the criteria for a visionary, as I have painfully learnt.
Undoubtedly, and in my case, the willingness to make sacrifices, to give up friendships, time and most importantly money is an absolute requisite. I was prepared to lose everything at the cost of being wrong, but to be able to look back at the end of my life and say…I believed. I tried!
On the contrary, I cannot imagine the pain and sorrow, if having not run the race of feeling, What If!
Anna McKann
July 2018
