And That’s Okay!
Ever been on a teeter-totter? A seesaw? One person goes up, one person goes down. How often is the board parallel to the ground? Both people balanced?
Ever try juggling your writing with your job and your family and your responsibilities and well, life? How well did you stay balanced?
My answers: 1. Uh, never. 2. Uh, never.
We seem to have this idea that if we can just balance everything, then life will be perfect. You’ll earn money, raise brilliant, well-adjusted children, devote yourself to your spouse/family/friends, indulge in self-care and write the next bestseller. And then when we can’t? We beat ourselves up over failing at balance.
But balance is hard. Almost impossible. Which means we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves when we can’t find it.
Instead, we should enjoy the ride. When a kid climbs on the teeter-totter, they know they’ll be in for ups-and-downs—it’s why they got on in the first place! When we dive into writing, we know they’ll be ups and downs—but we never think that’s why we got on in the first place.
What if we did? What if we remind ourselves that by writing we willingly agree to the ups and downs?
That way when they come? The ups and downs? We’ll say, bring it on. 🙂