Forging Ahead

The long hot summer is over. Thank God.

The last time I posted to this blog,I was wiping away those artist's tears. Someone's off-hand comment about the futility of my efforts, had me doubting whether or not I could succeed at my work. I even wondered if maybe I should quit and try something else.

I've heard many such comments from friends, relatives, and strangers over the last decade; comments like, "What is it that you do, exactly?" and "Do you get paid for that?" and the ever popular "You're still writing?"

Normally these comments make me laugh. Because, yes, I'm still writing. I get paid for it. What's so difficult to understand about that, anyway?

But,in the heat of August, in the midst of the dead weighted summer lull, the comment stung me. I cried. For a few minutes anyway.

I was dehydrated and tired enough to let the discouragement set in. Fatique was stripping me of creativity and energy.

It wasn't easy, but I managed to move past the discouragement. I wrote my grant proposal, several queries, and a couple of articles. I kept working on my books.
I also took time to revise my business plan.

Best of all, I started to put a little more balance in my life -- exercising, eating right, praying, and planning my days.

My efforts bore fruit. The assignments are coming in. And I feel great.

Forging ahead with wisdom, even when we don't feel like it, makes the difference between "wishing for" and "making" a future. Staying on track is essential. So, is focusing our time and efforts more efficiently.

When blank pages stare at us, we must fill them. When dark thoughts fill our mind we must push them out with light.

Doing is the best antidote to a negative world. We must speak life, when the world speaks death to us. And remain single-minded and focus upon our work because 'a double minded man is unstable in all his dealings.' (James 1: 8)

Jane Harris Zsovan writes in both mainstream in Canadian publications about faith, business, arts, and contemporary Canada. She is the author of Stars Appearing: The Galts' Vision of Canada

She contributed "Jessie's Generation: Canada's Firebrands of Mercy and Justice" to Hot Apple Cider: Stories to Warm the Heart and Stir the Soul

She writes Vision of Canada Blog, on contemporary and historical Canada.