Blogging sounds like such a good idea in theory, as do many things, such as having children, doing a daily meditation and starting a business venture. And yet as a full-time blogger, I sometimes hardly have the time to do the thing that I gave up my corporate job for: Blogging!
My younger brother (also my IT support and my real boss on certain occasions) snapped at me once because this trend has disturbed him: Bloggers get too busy to blog. Professors get too busy to teach and writers too busy to, well, write! We forget to do the main thing we are supposed to do because we are so wrapped up in all the other “stuff” surrounding our thing!
The problem is not with you though. It’s with reality!
Reality pulls you out of that dreamy wishful thinking state, slaps you a few times and waits patiently until you gather strength to stand up again before giving you another big blow. The mad cycle continues despite your greatest attempts to escape it. This, my darlings, is called life!
Welcome to the not-so-funny side of things where it all happens once you come in and start playing in the game!
Seriously, how many times can you set good intentions and pulled yourself together after things fall apart before you scream that you are quitting?
How much strength of character do you have to prove to the powers that be that decide the outcome of your decisions before getting your big break?
How much patience and perseverance is enough to prove our fabulous worth and how much of this cycle is meant to weed out not the lazy among us but sometimes, the very best?
Some days, it all gets so exhausting. And just for clarity sake, I am not complaining. That would mean I am looking for pity and sympathy. But trust me, I want neither. I am just in the mood to express loud and clear how it feels at times to be a full-time self-employed diva, and while you’d be out of your mind to even try and talk me out of doing my thing, I admit that it is so much harder than I imagined it to be.
“The best-laid plans of mice and men go awry”, my father-in-law repeated during our weekend get-together and I love that phrase, even it focuses on the negative.
The best-laid plans do go awry. The best of your talents that you put forth with much heart and soul can still fall flat. The most genius side of you can be poorly received or completely ignored. The hardest project of your life can go unnoticed and leave you shaking with madness because no one can really see your true gift.
And yet, you watch as the mediocre minds rise to stardom and fame and fortune, and as the barely educated business man turns a million or a billion dollars in profit, and as the silliest ideas take off and the least qualified ones in the crowd stand out and stand tall.
How does this happen? Why do some people end up being so massively successful with so little on their side? Proof has shown me that it is sometimes neither talent, nor passion and God knows it is not education or family or genes. Something else sets us apart from the few who turn those corners and rise to staggering heights.
Some times, motivation can be so hard to come by, and even as the author of a motivation book, I too lose motivation and desire to keep going from time and time and I suppose today is one of those days. It happens to everyone. Every single one of us.
But I never ever stay there long and today is no exception at all.
Just like a good argument, you want to have it, sulk over it a little and then move on quickly and just to be a good sport, I am done having this argument with myself today. I think. Am I really done ?It feels good to be lazy and wallow in self-pity a little longer but it inevitably leads to regrets and those things taste bitter, plus I can’t ever again get my two hours back!
So time to shake off the lows, and time to restore faith and confidence in the path that you have chosen.
Time to remember that all your missteps now are just setting you up for success.
Time to stop the comparison game and remember that not only is no one like you but that you can do things even better than the best of them. Yeah, take that and run with it!
Time to move on even from your greatest project, believing that it has somehow brought you to this particular point and that is a critical part of your journey.
Time to listen to the signs and exit the job that makes you miserable, even if you gave it half your life and all your devotion.
Time to trust your intuition and shut off your negative brain once and for all.
Time to bet on yourself, big, huge, gigantic bet on your genius and abilities to change the world for the better because nothing is going to stop you, no force is going to hold you down or get in your way and make you lose your inner motivation again.
That and a smart strategy to move forward with your business. If something doesn’t work, change it. If something doesn’t sell, stop selling it or learn how to re-position it. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Most of all, if you have lost an ounce of passion or conviction for what you are doing, then stop, re-evaluate and create an exit strategy out of the wrong place and into your true path.
As for me, no end in sight for blogging, that’s for sure, but a yoga session will do wonders to ground me right about now. What about you? How will you keep fighting those setbacks? Tell me in the comments below!
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I am Farnoosh, the founder of Prolific Living. So glad you are here. My mission is to empower you to unblock your creative genius to live your dream life.