Is
it okay with you that you blow off your writing, or whatever your
creative/spiritual calling, because your priority is to go to the gym or
do yoga five days a week? Would you give us one of those days back, to
play or study poetry? To have an awakening? Have you asked yourself
lately, 'How alive am I willing to be?' It’s all going very quickly.
It’s mid-May, for God’s sake. Who knew. I thought it was late
February.
It’s time to get serious about joy and fulfillment, work on our books,
songs, dances, gardens. But perfectionism is always lurking nearby,
like the demonic prowling lion in the Old Testament, waiting to pounce.
It will convince you that your work-in-progress is not great, and that
you may never get published. (Wait, forget the prowling satanic lion —
your parents, living or dead, almost just as loudly either way, and your
aunt Beth, and your passive-aggressive friends, whom we all think you
should ditch, are going to ask, 'Oh, you’re writing again? That’s nice.
Do you have an agent?')… Oh my God, what if you wake up some day, and
you’re 65, or 75, and you never got your memoir or novel written; or you
didn’t go swimming in warm pools and oceans all those years because
your thighs were jiggly and you had a nice big comfortable tummy; or you
were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing that you
forgot to have a big juicy creative life, of imagination and radical
silliness and staring off into space like when you were a kid? It’s
going to break your heart. Don’t let this happen. Repent just means to
change direction — and NOT to be said by someone who is waggling their
forefinger at you. Repentance is a blessing. Pick a new direction, one
you wouldn’t mind ending up at, and aim for that. Shoot the moon.
Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1995)
Use the link below to read about the life and work of North American novelist and educator ANNE LAMOTT:
https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-anne-lamott-851775
You might also enjoy:
The Write Advice 084: EDITH WHARTON
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