The one thought I really needed to hear right now

"You must once and for all give up being worried about successes and failures. Don't let that concern you. It's your duty to go on working steadily day by day, quite quietly, to be prepared for mistakes, which are inevitable, and for failures."

(Anton Chekhov, quoted in Madeleine L'Engle, Herself)

I think I'm going to write this out nicely and frame it and put in on my desk where I can see it every day. I have grown up reaching (and often achieving) high results. That has fueled the desire to continuously achieve high, or perfect, results. And that is not the best nor the most productive way to work. In fact it will actually inhibit my best work and stall any process in which I am in the midst. I have several projects on the go and coming up - writing, filming, speaking - all of which excite and terrify me at the same time. I have been out of the "outside loop" for so long, holed up in my cozy little home, that I constantly doubt myself and my ability to do anything out there in the world anymore.

But these exciting opportunities are staring me in the face, and I know I am supposed to be doing them, so here I go!