It’s okay to be a beginner.  No matter how old you are.  No matter how slow you are to pick up on things that others have mastered long ago. 

It’s okay to not know how to do things that you wish you knew how to do.  It’s okay to ask for help.  It’s also okay to say, "No thanks," to help.  "I’m going to do this on my own this time."

It’s okay to write shitty first drafts.  And seconds, thirds, and fourths.  It’s okay to never win a Pulizter.  It’s okay to do your art just because you have to, and not because anyone wants you to, or to do it because it makes you feel happy.  It’s okay if it doesn’t make money.  And it’s also okay to try to dream of ways that it might.

It’s okay for people to reject your work, or not connect with it.  It’s okay for people to rave about it.  It’s okay for people to have little reaction to it at all.

And it’s quite alright that you have your personality, and not someone else’s.  That you get tired in crowds.  That you actually like light beer.

You’re okay.  You’re actually far more than that.  And you can rest now, all you voices that say otherwise.  You can stop trying to keep this girl from flying.  Thank you for working overtime to try to protect me.  I want to take it from here.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2006 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Psychology, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.