MY
WEEKLY BLOG<\/p>\n
Embracing
Mediocrity<\/p>\n
As I compose
my 200th blog, I wonder how on earth I keep finding things to say. Or if what I have to say is valuable. But I\u2019ve learned along the way that value is in the eyes of the creator and it reflects how much we treasure ourselves. I\u2019m committed to regarding my thoughts and ideas as valuable as anyone else\u2019s and I take pride in having learned how to express myself. But that doesn’t mean that everything I do is going to be great.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0usually have no idea what I\u2019m going to say about when I sit down at my computer.\u00a0I just start writing and more often than not, I have a false start. I begin\u00a0with an idea, it doesn’t pan out, I delete it and I start again. And again. I\u00a0do the same thing with each chapter when I\u2019m writing a book. It\u2019s not about how\u00a0good I think it is or how smooth the transitions and word usage. It’s not about\u00a0comparing it to what anyone else is doing. And it\u2019s not about what people will\u00a0think or who will read it. It\u2019s about getting something on the page that\u00a0doesn’t suck. Then I have the chance to take it from mediocre to good and
hopefully, as I keep working on it, it will become something I really like.<\/p>\n
When I\u00a0get hired to edit a manuscript, no matter what shape it\u2019s in, I admire the\u00a0writer for simply doing it. It\u2019s such a huge undertaking to write a book. It\u2019s difficult to begin and its an heroic task to finish it. When\u00a0someone says, \u201cI think I ought to write a book. What do you think?\u201d I tell\u00a0them, \u201cGreat idea. Do that and let me know how it goes.\u201d It\u2019s like the Chinese\u00a0curse, \u201cMay you live in interesting times.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of\u00a0the most challenging obstacles to all forms of creativity is fear of mediocrity\u00a0but you can’t let that stop you. We\u2019ve all heard about artists painting over\u00a0and over their initial sketches. In the same way, if you don’t get something,\u00a0anything, on the page, how will you make it better? I know a writer who was\u00a0inconsolable after he read William Styron\u2019s “Sophie\u2019s\u00a0Choice.” He was so moved by it, he was too intimidated to pick up his own pen. \u201cMy stuff is so bad,\u201d he whined. \u201cStyron just did it perfectly so why even try?\u201d My friend\u2019s negative self-judgments robbed him of the opportunity to be inspired and catapulted into the next phase of his own greatness.<\/p>\n
We all\u00a0do mediocre work at times, especially when we start something new, but we have\u00a0to learn to embrace it as an unavoidable rung on the ladder to success. When\u00a0you do anything challenging, it often starts so poorly, mediocrity is a step\u00a0up. Author Annie Lamott says, \u201cI know some very good writers and not one of
them writes elegant first drafts.\u201d We, the readers, don\u2019t get to see those\u00a0first drafts. We read a book after it\u2019s been edited, rewritten and edited some\u00a0more, with no idea about the mountain the author had to climb to get to the\u00a0finish line.<\/p>\n
If\u00a0you\u2019re willing to take the steps, one by one, toward your goal, you just might\u00a0end up creating something wonderful. If you\u2019re not willing, your chances\u00a0dissolve. I know a woman in her sixties who is in\u00a0great shape physically, her mind is keen and her instincts are sharp, but as\u00a0she gets older, she gets less experimental and more rigid. \u201cWhy don’t you learn\u00a0to play the guitar?\u201d I asked her once when she was complaining that she felt\u00a0uninspired. \u201cYou love guitar music and you told me you wish you\u2019d learned to\u00a0play an instrument when you were young. Why don’t you start now? It\u2019s never too\u00a0late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tolerate being bad at anything at this stage in my
life,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
What a missed opportunity. If you have something to say or paint or compose, do it or it\u2019ll die on the vine and you\u2019ll never see the reflection of your creativity and love in someone else\u2019s eyes. Imagine how many great stories, books, paintings, operas, plays, ballets or films languish in someone\u2019s mind, in the back of a closet or gather dust on a bottom shelf somewhere, never seeing the light of day because he or she was afraid of being mediocre. When you stop expecting perfection from yourself and accept mediocrity as a necessary part of the creative process, you\u2019ll be amazed at the beauty, creativity, and inspiration that lives deep inside of you, just waiting for you to coax it out into the light.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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