Get Past, Around, or Over Yourself
Pin It!When I say Get Past, Around or Over Yourself, I’m not talking about the usual things like Learn How to be More Assertive or Steps to Snagging That Perfect Man, nope, not that bullshit. I’m talking about channeling the concept of moving out of our own way to get closer to what you want to do, or where we want to be. I’ll hold my hands, feet and bum, and whatever up to this one - as I am still as guilty as the next Babe, but hopefully, now in recovery. Think about all the ways we go about convincing our friends and loved ones of their worth, lifting them up because it’s obvious that we know their true worth. We’re not content to let them sit on their talents, so we keep pushing them to show them off to the world. Then we so easily let that same advice boomerang us in the back of our heads, content to be thrown over a cliff and into an oncoming wave of ocean poop. Why can’t we take our own expert advice? If a friend of mine wanted to become a Prima Ballerina, but I know she can’t dance worth a damn, then what kind of friend would I be to encourage that nonsense? So, no, I don’t believe in pushing falsehoods. And don’t even think of bringing up some of the America’s Got Talent contestants. SMH.
For me, mantras like practice makes perfect and fake it till you make it, just don’t cut it. Why? Am I a dumbass? Maybe. But these lofty feel-good sentiments simply wash over me. I need more practical, executable, bare bones stuff that I can recall and actually put into motion. I love to write and I know I will never be Charles Dickens, or Dick Charlens, or even Charlene Dicks, whoever she may be, but so what? Writing and publishing at least one book in my lifetime has been a dream of mine. I start and then stop, and then restart and stop again. Solat, who started this outstanding site, and who’s one of the Brit Babes who also moved across the pond, even bought me two books on how to publish a book, like five years ago. No one tell her, but those books are now risers for two of my plants that I am pulling back from them wanting for the sweet release of death. You will live baby Fiddle, you will live!
Many of my friends say they enjoy the rambles of sentences that I string together but that ‘aint the same as writing no book, now! So, what was the shift towards my A-ha moment? It took me joining a neighborhood Book Club to realize that:
I. Do. Not. Need. To. Be. A. Great. Writer.
Wrapping up the second year of our book club, we’ve read some thought provoking, funny, riveting, and juicy reads, alongside some absolute losers. I mean ones you can barely get through, but know you push through to finish or you’re just attending book club for the booze and company, which is still highly encouraged. I’d think to myself who bought this crap, then check out the online reviews to see thousands of people did. Or ask myself, who’s actually reading this crap—err, you are, Bitch. Pausing on my book club for a moment, a friend of mine loaned me a book that shocked the bejesus out of her and made Fifty Shades look like a whimsical children’s bedtime tale. Fifty Shades was no shocker for me, but this book, and I’ll skip mentioning it, I was like WTAF is going on here, and do I need to call the police?!
However, I promised her I’d finish it, and showered profusely once done. This book was part of a trilogy, and the author had a cult following. It was far from being my cup of tea, and yet swarms of people loved it, and wanted more. But that’s the point. The author had a vision for a storyline that she wanted to share, and I don’t doubt she knew some people would gravitate towards it and some would hate it, but clearly it didn’t stop her. Have you ever watched a movie with actors you know have trash acting skills? OK, and what? You think they’ve never heard that before? Has it stopped them? Nope. Maybe they’ll get serious and hone in on their craft, or then again, maybe they won’t. Just like the book trilogy, someone out there will like it - they don’t care, so why should you? I say, let’s write the book and have it fail, or run the race and come in last. Who’s with me?
We’ll be smart enough to take the critique and improve on the next go. Isn’t it time we stopped letting doubt settle in ourselves, while we move mountains to make sure it doesn’t take root in others? Yep, you might suck, but f**k it, and do it anyway.
