Thinking On The Positive Side

Some days it is too hard to be superman. It’s too hard to even be Han Solo, or Batman, or Iron Man.  Maybe you’ll be okay with being a sidekick, like Pepper Potts, or Robin.  You might even settle for getting through the day without the feeling you’ve gone FUBAR.  It’s too hard to think about being yourself but you try.  While some will suggest that it is all a matter of ‘changing your thoughts,’ often there is more to it.  It’s about changing how you see yourself as the many varied and wonderful pieces that make up you.  You aren’t just one part or one event, or one thing.  No matter how much one event or one person shaped you, there are countless other events and people who have a long term effect on your thinking.  Try as you might it’s hard thinking on the positive side.  You can’t drop everything.

For a newer writer, or one who sees their writing as a hobby and, not as a means of a business (at least not yet,) writing is emotional and sometimes hard to do.

We’ve all heard quotes from professional, and successful writers, who can tell you “start writing in the morning.” Or “I always knew I would be a writer.”

Those are great thoughts, positive even, but only for a moment in time.

The trouble is, that life happens.  You might have a family, young children, or you might have two other jobs to make ends meet.  You’d like to spend more time writing, but you can’t.  Not now, you’ve got too much on your plate.  You’ve got commitments, and so, the writing slows down, and you feel that you’ve gone too far off your planned path that there isn’t a good reason to continue with writing. Take a moment, and find yourself.  Think on the positive side.  You are writing, or maybe you’ve just sat down and done a diary page.  Maybe you’ve sat and read a chapter of your favourite book.

No one is perfect.  No one should be asked to be perfect because, we are human and we make mistakes.  What makes us better, or worse is how we take things when they aren’t as easy.  Back to positive thinking?

In a word, no.

What you are really trying to do is see the positive to small, regular successes.

Let’s be honest.  I’m a writer, but I am in no way a “professional” writer.  I do write, and I do spend time planning and working at it, but it is a hobby.  For a writer such as myself, it’s not easy to have a set time.  It’s harder to make people understand the pain, and a guilt when I am sitting in front of a computer and working away at a blog post.  Or a part of my novel, or doing some research. I have other commitments. My commitments are such that my life has a lot of extras which I often feel are more important than my own happiness at writing.

Thinking positive?

Yes.  I know the reality of my life, and while it’s the knowledge that this too shall pass.  This too, where my life is now is not what defines me.  I can change it, but it is through small and simple success that I can see a positive side to writing.  I can see a positive side to what I have to offer as a writer, and as a person.  I can share in a manner that others might not be blessed with.  I can challenge myself and take a step towards another goal.

Thinking positive means that while I will go forward, it doesn’t mean I won’t go back.  It means I can see where I want to go, but I can also learn from others who are a few steps ahead of me.  I am no Terry Brooks, but I learn from him.  I am no Joe Hill, but I can learn from him.  I am, however, someone who has taken the steps to being a published author. This makes a difference.  I can see that I have done it once before. I can learn from that success, but also from that failure.

Wait, failure?

Failure.  Most people don’t want to think of failure, they want to think positive.  Thinking positive also means accepting that a person can fail.  A lot.  Superman might save a few people, but he doesn’t save them all.  The same holds true for anyone.  They have success but then again, they have also failed.  No one wins at everything.  No matter how unlikely the “win” no matter what they think, there is an element of success- and failure- to go along with it.

For example: writing is important, but only how you make it, and how you see it being important- in your life.  If you don’t find it important, it’s not a failure.  If you do… then should there be problems, you will feel like you have failed.

The difference, between failing completely and a new success is by taking some time to learn, and grow, and accept yourself.  The failure should be acknowledged.  It shouldn’t be dwelled on, but at least allowed it time to be and to lessen.  When I had to step back from writing it was also because it was hard.  It had lost the passion, or rather, I had lost the passion.  I let the failure get to me.  I stopped thinking positive, and didn’t let myself take the time to grow.

It was my experience in thinking negative.  I understood one thing: I myself needed the break, but I didn’t understand that I needed to re-focus and re-define who I was- as a writer.  There are many pieces in my life, and it is not impossible to be successful.  It’s unlikely that without a mindset of thinking positive will there be a change that allows you to grow and build yourself up.  Then, thinking in a more positive light, you’ll be able to do what you love once more.