Oh yeah - and one other goal follow up.... my fiction piece was published!! Whoot whoot!! Check out the link here. http://commuterlit.com/2016/01/thursday-the-hike/
This all sounds pretty wonderful doesn't it? Life is great.
But guess what - the writing almost didn't happen. Remember in November when I said I was submitting two pieces - fiction and non-fiction. Well, I am assuming by now my non-fiction piece has been rejected. And my fiction piece came back with a very gracious request to re-write.
I was pretty discouraged when that happened. But I knew that being published was something I really wanted. And the feedback I got from the editor who published my piece provided me with some very solid recommendations that in the end improved my original submission. Her suggestions also have resonated with me in relation to other projects I am working on.
It was pretty easy to feel discouraged with a double rejection because I wanted the publishing process to be easy. But two things have helped me through this process. First is the quote - Anything worthwhile is never easy. Second - writers work really hard to be published. There are stories are all over the place about masterpieces that received multiple rejections before someone agreed to publish them.
This situation has cause be me to think - how often could our outlook in a certain situation be different if we saw that rejection or what we view as a rejection as an opportunity to be better. That is my challenge this week. Look for places in my life that feel like they aren't working and see what I can do to make it better.
We are constantly presented with situations that don't seem to be working even if it is something we think we really want. What if the rejection was just a challenge testing our commitment? What if that challenge was in place to make our goal of whatever we were aiming for the be that much better? What if we were being challenged from being just ok to pretty amazing.
Viewing your rejection, setback or failure in that light suddenly doesn't make it seem so bad. The non-fiction piece that I submitted was a rewrite of my post about jumping off the bridge. Out of all of the posts I have here, that piece is one that people comment to me personally the most. The story is good, the editors wanted better writing.
The bottom line is to not give into the negative thoughts that happen when our lives don't look the way we thought they would. Being inspired to try new things, spending time with people who you can connect with and share ideas with those are ways to stay in the positive frame of mind. But ultimately you are the one who needs to choose which thought pattern you are going to let dominate.
Do you ever notice when you start to view things in a more positive light, all of a sudden the disappointments don't seem that bad? By refocussing how you view the situation can make all of the difference in learning the lesson from you rejection. This line of thinking can take a story and improve it or take a bad race and change your approach to training. Our minds are incredibly powerful tools that affect how we perceive our world. It is up to you how to use it.
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