As we all continue to set goals for 2017 (can you believe January is nearly over?!), I've been taking some time to reflect on myself, what I'm doing with my life, and where I'd like to go. Outside of speech pathology, there are so many things I'd like to do, things I'd like to get better at...but I don't give myself the opportunity. Maybe it's a simple lack of determination (with a tinge of laziness). Maybe it's the nagging reality check instilled in me during childhood that chances of success in a cut throat, saturated creative fields are one in a million. Maybe it's a little bit of both.
Truthfully? It's a sad mentality that if I'm not immediately successful at something, it isn't worth doing. If I don't lose ten pounds in one month, it isn't worth working out and eating well. If I can't be a top selling artist on Etsy, what's the point of creating anything at all? If I can't come up with the next Gone Girl in the next three hours, I shouldn't even put a pen to paper.
Okay, I'm being a little dramatic here.
My point is that, statistically, we will never be the best at every single thing we set out to accomplish...at least not in the beginning stages. As a blogger and an avid Instagram-er, I'm constantly scrolling through exquisitely edited photographs with quick & witty captions, successful bloggers launching online courses, painters selling off another gorgeous watercolor print, etc. etc. It's inspiring for sure; it can also be a bit deflating.
It gets me thinking about the future, the little story I write inside my head every day - the little story that changes all the time. And that got me asking myself the age old question, "what would I do if I knew I could not fail?"
It gets me thinking about the future, the little story I write inside my head every day - the little story that changes all the time. And that got me asking myself the age old question, "what would I do if I knew I could not fail?"
If I knew I could not fail, I would write a book. I would write a mystery, or a young adult fiction, or a coming of age series, or a children's book. I would make up character names and develop their backgrounds, their life stories, their futures. I'd formulate plot twists and heartbreaks and epic love stories. My stories might mean nothing to some, but everything to someone.
If I knew I could not fail, I would actively paint with my watercolors. I would do portraits of friends, animals, houses, lettering, landscapes, the works. I would find my niche eventually, but I'd dabble in all of it and it wouldn't matter if I was good or bad, because I'd do it simply out of love for the craft.
If I knew I could not fail, I would go after a SLP externship position; something I might consider to be "a better fit for someone else." Because why not me? I'm not applying for externships just yet, but I will be by the end of the summer. Sometimes I still don't feel "smart enough" for this field, and in turn I just assume I'll end up in a setting I'm not necessarily thrilled about (note: this theory actually makes no sense).
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