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February 27, 2009
Lessons from the Lost Week
When I wrote this yesterday:
"I would be devastated if someone...tried to ban me from writing for life."
I realized that I didn't want to give up on writing no matter how discouraged I am with it right now.
It was one of several lessons life taught me this week.
Lesson #1: The wheel turns. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but it always turns. So, if I can go from perfectly fine to suddenly-very-sick-with-the-flu in a matter of hours, I should be able to get back on track with writing too.
Lesson #2: All writers do bad work sometimes. Okay, I knew that already. But the review I read yesterday reminded me of it in a dramatic way. And I don't even know that the playwright-in-question's work was actually bad, just that one reviewer hated it. I do know that the reviewer wrote and published some words he shouldn't have. We all make mistakes. If Big Successful Writers like those two guys can mess up, then maybe there is hope for me after all.
Lesson #3: Perseverance is key. Again, I kind of knew this but I'd forgotten it somehow. So, when I saw this quote on a friend's Facebook page, it really hit home:
Tiruvalluvar's Kural 611: "Never say in weakness, 'This task is too difficult.' Perseverance will confer the ability to accomplish it."
Which brings me to...
Lesson #4: Perseverance is linked to religious faith. Really. My laptop's dictionary informs me that perseverance has these two alternate definitions that I'd never heard of: Calvinist concept of divine grace, and Roman Catholic belief in God's grace. Huh. When I read the Facebook quote I thought: "hey that's great but where can I buy some perseverance, 'cause I am all out." And now my dictionary is telling me I don't have to buy perseverance, that I can just ask God for it. Admittedly, I should have known that already. I guess sometimes I just need to be told that kind of thing directly.
Losing a week to the flu isn't so bad if the trade-off is learning some vital life-lessons.
Actually there is probably a Lesson #5 in there. Something about tough times usually including a gift for us—some lesson we need. That helps make the tough times easier to bear.
Posted by Selena at February 27, 2009 12:25 PM