When we can't finish

When we can’t finish 

November 11, 2018 

At times in our lives, we think the road ahead stretches for ever. 

We have the time we need to accomplish everything. 

Or we have the time we need to start to think about everything we want to accomplish, the mark we will make, or the difference we can be. 

We don’t, of course, have the time. 

We make or do not make choices, we choose or follow a direction. 

We may make a plan. We start to move towards it, our thoughts revolve around it as we make notes and lists. 

We tell people about our ideas and dreams and goals. 

If we are lucky, or we have chosen well, they will be our champions. 

We may tell no one for fear that they will steal the heart from it. 

We research, design, and we are almost ready to…. 

Then the light goes on. 

This will be harder than we thought, it will take more time, effort, focus, money, concentration and faith. 

There will be struggles and hurdles.  Even after everything, it may fail. 

We take it as far as we can go without committing. 

That idea, thought, book, song, business or dream just-stops-breathing. 

We start to justify.  It was too hard, I had no support, I didn’t believe it would work. Or worse, we make ourselves the problem.  I’m too tired, busy, stupid or broke. 

One more time, we disappoint ourselves and let ourselves off the hook at the same time. 

We start looking for our next best something which will save us and be miraculous until it’s not. 

There is a point in every creation where we decide to keep going.  I think that’s what it takes, a decision. 

There are millions of poems unwritten, songs unsung, pictures unpainted, and discoveries undiscovered. 

Is the drive for perfection holding us back, or is it the need for the most original, most fantastic creation ever imagined into reality? 

We forget that there will be failures before success, hours of practice, more errors than trials. 

We forget that it-is-all-part-of-the-process. 

We allow ourselves to feel judged by other peoples' measures of what success should look like.  We start listening to the naysayers, the ones inside and out.  

We judge our value by our celebrity, followers, wealth. (pick your poison) 

Creating and following through can be hard, it will show us where we are weak and where we are strong. 

We might experience joy, shame, disappointment, fear, pride or all of those and more. 

If you know where you struggle when you are creating, make your plan, and include the list of triggers that set you off on the road to nowhere. 

Surround yourself with people who lift you up. 

Get good at taking criticism, being grateful for the input and ignoring it when you must. 

Set some timelines and check in with yourself.  Have others check in with you, and don’t freak out when they do. Remember they are doing it out of love, in fact, they are doing what you asked. 

Acknowledge the setbacks and re-assess. Change the direction if your original plan was flawed or could be improved. 

Do not attach your value to the outcome of this one thing. 

Create many things. 

Make as much of a difference as you feel you can. 

Know what’s important.  Make enough space in your life to allow your mind to get free. 

Keep going. 

Love, 

m

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