“In the wilderness we’re plunged into an awareness of danger and death; at the very same moment we’re plunged, if we let ourselves be, into an awareness of the great mystery of God and the extraordinary preciousness of life.” —Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall
discouragement
What to do when You’re in a Writing Slump
Some of my recent work has been a lemon. A dud. An abject failure. I’ve been in what can only be termed a “writing slump.”
[Read more…] about What to do when You’re in a Writing Slump
How to Handle Failure
The problems of failure are problems of discouragement, of hopelessness, of hunger. You want everything to happen and you want it now, and things go wrong. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art” [Read more…] about How to Handle Failure
Messages in Bottles
A freelance life, a life in the arts, is sometimes like putting messages in bottles on a desert island, and hoping that someone will find one of your bottle and open it and read it, and put something in a bottle that will wash its way back to you: appreciation, or a commission, or money, or love. And you have to accept that you may put out a hundred things for every bottle that winds up coming back. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
From There to Here: Do the One Thing
When you set out on a journey from there to here, you find yourself beset with obstacles. Those obstacles may be external – a terrible job or no job, for instance – but, more often than not, they are internal. They are found as you encounter various difficulties and find yourself discouraged, disconsolate, lost.
Of Perfectionists and Pressure
Remember to strive for the best, but it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t make it. Don’t burn yourself out striving for perfection. – Mom*
Perfectionists tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves. They have the pressure of doing everything perfectly. If they learn to cope with that particular pressure, they then face another one: the pressure of accomplishing goals and projects with unrealistic time frames. If they fail on either front, they’re likely to tailspin. They lose whatever confidence they have. They berate themselves. They forget that they’re human. They forget that they’re not called to a standard of perfection but to a standard of grace.