What’s Your Rush? Or, better known as… it almost never has to be done by Thursday, unless you’ve got a publishing deadline…
I had a great role model in the rushing department. My mother was always doing, doing, doing. And, for the most part, she was all things to all people, nurturing, talented, giving, fun and generous. She took care of everyone, except herself in the end. I think my mom sort of wore herself out. She died at fifty-nine, filled with cancer even though we didn’t even know she was ill until weeks before. Mom died like she lived: quickly and without fanfare. She was a blessing up to her last breath.
Dr. Bernie Siegel told me later that she’d no doubt used her energy, her life “all up.” (Okay, he was probably more profound in his wording, but that’s what I remember.)
What are you using your life for? If you knew you only had so much life force left, what projects would you choose to work on? What ideas would you finally get down on the page, and which would you jettison?
Great ideas are out there—and within you—in abundance. Some—make that most—of your plans/schemes/inspirations will get away from you. That’s just life. There are only so many hours in which to pin those suckers down. My advice? Do what you can with those bits and pieces of creativity that give you the biggest boost (that raise your energy, even during round-the-clock deadlines) and nuture them. You may be sleep deprived, but you’re jazzed—or, at the very least, you see the bigger picture and THAT outcome lights your internal fires. Your pulse quickens because you can feel the end game and it’s worth it.
Ditch the projects that suck the life right out of you. I wish my mom had. Maybe she didn’t know that was her right and responsibility.
And, if you find yourself rushing your work out to market, before it’s ready and at the expense of enjoying the moments of your life that matter most, remember: If you’re tapped in enough to have one great idea (you are… you’re alive), you’re going to have many more. Putting all of your emotional eggs in one basket is a recipe for disappointment. Trust that there’s enough for everyone. That there’s enough for you.
xx
Linda
