The CBAs Of Life #Positivity #BlogShare #WriterLife
I will go ahead and admit at this point that I am actually so
exhausted from the day of writing I just had that I am finding it
insanely difficult to finish these last two posts for National Blog
Posting Month (#NaBloPoMo). It's strange how two days ago I had
writer's block on my novel and now I'm having writer's block on what
to rant and rave about. While I was going to do a post entitled: Why
Does The World Love Girls So Much which would have been on the recent
Universal Studios acquisition of the film rights to an as-yet not
released novel entitled The Girl Before, I decided against it because
I didn't know all of what I wanted to say about it as my feelings
continue to be mixed. The book doesn't come out until next fall yet
Ron Howard is about to make a film out of it and some self-pub
writers don't get the time of day? Hmph! That has led me to do this
post instead.
Positivity. Everyone tries to maintain a level of positivity in their
lives in hopes that it will not only spur on things like good health
and good relationships, but success in all areas. Some rare occasions
I forget just how important being positive is. Let me give a caveat
here and say that I respect and realize the usefulness of all
emotions and feelings, but there's just something about positivity
which is so addictive and the one thing we must all have if we are
going to get through the drudgery of life.
From what I've seen, the world is filled with people who will doubt
you and your abilities at every turn. I remember back in college I
wanted to start a comedy thing and was immediately told how hard it
would be. That is when the idea reinforced in my head that sometimes
another person's "negativity" is not meant to be mean or
overly critical on purpose. Often they believe the truth behind their
words. The great thing is that you don't have to believe it.
Don't get me wrong, we all need to hear the truth from those around
us we trust, but we must train ourselves to discern between when
someone else may be correct about our reality and when we have the
will and/or know-how to prove them wrong. I think it is for this very
reason that we sometimes must take on challenges to push our limits
and test the boundaries by which others see us and we see ourselves.
One of the reasons I took on the National Novel Writing Month
(#NaNoWriMo) challenge was not to prove to myself I could do it (I've
written a book in a month countless times) but to cheer on others
that didn't know if they could or not. In some ways I lost sight of
that a little and busied myself with my own novel, but it did
reinforce to me the precious feeling you get when you believe in
yourself and accomplish what you set out to do.
My standards by which to live have always been summed up in about
four or five words. You first have the acronym CBA: Conceive,
Believe, Achieve. There is nothing you can do in this world without
locking in the first concept of, uh... conception. You have to know
what you want to achieve before you can achieve it. Some people don't
have much of an idea about that when they start something. It's
always too general. Saying that you want to write a novel, even
picking the genre is not specific enough to motivate you all the way
through to the end sometimes. I know we've all heard it before
thousands of times, but writing or picturing clear goals for yourself
is paramount to success.
Next, you have to believe. Stay as positive as you can as you start
the process of going after what you want. Sure, you may breakdown.
That's fine. A breakdown is OK so long as you can recover. Don't be
ashamed to fall apart especially if you're trying to do something
that others around you know is possible but are too afraid to
attempt. Pride can get in the way of you daring to fail, get back up
and continue. Don't take this as a continue-at-any-cost thing because
when you do fall, make sure you have those honest people around you
to tell you if your goal is reasonable. If it is, then keep going
after it.
Though it doesn't fit into the neat acronym, the next thing you have
to do is work your butt off. The reason I like NaNoWriMo and
NaBloPoMo is because it pushes writers to try fitting into a
community where everyone is working their tails off to get their art
out and onto the page. You have people cheering on your hard work
which can make you want to work even harder. But when this ends, we
all must find the desire, the burn, the drive to continue the work we
started. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor in a month. Your goal for
writing that novel, or losing weight, or getting that job promotion
or raise or whatever you want to achieve takes time. Keep at it!
And finally, try to achieve what you set before you. Remember the
goals, put a time stamp on when you want to have achieved them and
try sticking to it. Admittedly, it doesn't always work, but when it
does, it's amazing. Even if it doesn't, you always learn something
about yourself and the world around you on the way, and that can be
uplifting in its own right.
What do you think? For those NaNoers out there are you staying
positive as the month closes out? Do you maybe have some other goals
you're trying to achieve that you are trying to stay positive on? How
has your November 2015 been? Let me know in the comments below (hint:
click the no comments button if you see no comments).
If
you’re looking for a scare,
check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or
#ThePowerOfTen.
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out #TheWriter.
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Until next time, "gimme an A!
Gimme a B! Gimme a C! What's that spell?"
"ABC is not a
word. It doesn't spell anything, it's just the first three letters of
the alphabet."
"Wow!
You try to do a positive cheerleading exercise and some people just
have to be that guy."
P.S. Don't act like you don't know who that guy is. You know.
You probably work with him. I'll come up with a better sign-off next
time.
P.P.S. Am I tripping or just spelling "positivity" wrong? I used two different word processors and they both underlined it? Guess machines don't like that word.
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