“Like a tsunami that hits the coastline
A hurricane that throws up houses
Or an earthquake that splits the earth in two
Watch your words.
They can change relationships forever.
Think carefully.
Choose them wisely.
They cannot be unsaid.
Elephants don’t forget.”
– SmikG.
“In most cases…
A problem can be lessened,
Pain can be halved,
And worries can be almost diminished.
If you –
Talk to a loved one,
Have a satisfying meal,
Drink a warm coffee, or
Have a restful sleep.
And if after any of things… all of these things,
Your heart isn’t full
Your tummy isn’t happy
Your soul isn’t dancing
And your body isn’t rested…
Then it’s time to talk to a professional.
But in most cases, and for most problems… these are the best, and most simplest cures of life.”
-SmikG.
Photo by Valentin Antonucci on Unsplash
Christmas has always been one of my most favourite times of the year. There are carols, festive movies, everything is red, green, gold and sparkly, and let’s face it, by December Melbourne weather is starting to show us some decent warmth.
Holidays are near, and LOVE IS ALL AROUND.
I know and I feel that to be true. But I’ve been thinking a lot about another group of people.
It’s the time of year where people start talking about a fresh start, a new beginning. More so now because we’re not just entering a new year next year, but we’re entering a new DECADE.
People don’t just get together and celebrate Christmas work parties and KK catch ups with friends… celebrations occur. The end of the year brings good news in work and school results, people use the timing of festive happiness to celebrate and bring forth happy news from other areas in their life…
All in all, this December I am seeing a lot of good news stories.
And I LOVE it.
But there are not all who love it.
And by that I mean that they are not loving anything, nothing at all.
I feel particularly this year for the people who are struggling.
There are people in hospital who don’t know how they are going to get through the month, relying on machines to help them live… let alone wasting time thinking of what New Year goals they are going to break in the second week of January.
There are people who are missing loved ones that have departed. This Christmas may be the first for them without someone they love, and seeing Christmas cards in stores and Hallmark moments being broadcast all around as the ideal Christmas with the perfect family, would make this such a hard time.
Then there are those that are estranged from family, and that all too common question “Where do you celebrate Christmas?” makes it almost a disappointment to speak that they aren’t spending it with family. Having people nosy into your personal business, isn’t the merriest of feelings.
The approaching new year also makes you reflect, and often people don’t like what they discover. Looking back at the year that has passed can make one feel like a disappointment if they feel they haven’t achieved what they set out to… the absence of a goal or achievement can be hard to swallow, and a bitter reminder that a year has been lost. Looking forward to a new year then can be overwhelming, and a fresh start mentality is difficult to focus on and is far from their mind.
This year, I am really feeling for all those who are struggling.
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash
I am not a professional, and I don’t know what to do in every difficult situation… but as a person who has gone through hard times, I can offer some personal advice…
Take every moment at a time. Don’t look too much into the future and worry about what’s to come. Just focus on doing the best you can at this point in time with what you have.
Focus simply, on gratitude. Focus on the little things, and on what you DO have. Think about the roof over your head, the comfortable bed that you sleep in, and that person who calls you because they love you. These are the things worth thinking about. These are the things that matter.
Stay off social media. Reading other people’s ‘highlight’ reels is not going to help. A word of caution: if you find yourself comparing your life against someone else’s, remember that what someone posts is just one moment in time, and it provides absolutely no backstory or context of actual reality. Most of the time these repetitive highlight reels come from serial posters, who require self-gratification in the form of constant likes and comments… that is, they are suffering for some reason and need their ego inadvertently stroked to make themselves feel better… They need the attention constantly on them or else they risk suffering a meltdown.
Feel proud that you have beautiful things that you could share, but you don’t. It’s called self-command and privacy.
And as much as I do love this festive season… this too shall pass. It all does. Just hold on. Hold on knowing that like one of my favourite quotes:
“Good times and bad times have one thing in common, they never last forever.”
Don’t be disheartened by this quote. Feel humbled you are able to grace this earth.
I hope you have a great festive season, and just remember… moment by moment.
I believe in you.
You can do it. ♥
Photo by Josh Boot on Unsplash
Step 1: Stare at the computer in horror. Do this for as long as you have to, to let it really SINK IN.
Step 2: Physically express yourself. Scream. Cry. YELL. Do all 3 and then some. If you are going to throw something across the room make sure you don’t have any strong attachment to the item, it is not heavy/sharp/strong, and also, you don’t care about your flooring/it is virtually unbreakable.
Step 3: Keep crying and telling yourself self-defeating words. Things like:
“I’m a failure.”
“I am shit.”
“I am a shit writer AND I’m just plain shit.”
“I can’t fucking write.”
“I got rejected for a fucking writing course…”
And so on. If you have come this far you are doing well. Your self-loathing is working brilliantly.
Step 4: Wallow in self-pity. Pick someone who has to put up with you (i.e partner, parent, sibling) and tell them how shit you are. Cry as you are doing so. Tell them all your sorrows, including that time in grade 4 when you walked into a pole at school and your canteen partner laughed their head off at you. Go on.
Step 5: More than likely you have just been yelled at and scolded by your loved one. Go off and sulk for about 37 minutes.
I’ll wait…
Step 6: Ok you’re back. Now I want you to ask yourself…
“Are you going to let this beat you?”
That just jarred you didn’t it? You expected me to tell you to go cut some onions and rub them over your eyelids after all that self-hatred and the pity party you just attended with yourself as the star D-grade celebrity.
But SmikG is getting glass half-full right now and she is gonna whoop your ass.
Sit down! You’re not going anywhere.
Step 7: Ask yourself some more questions. Things like:
“Are you going to let one individual/organisation dictate what you can do?
“Will you someone else control your belief of yourself?”
“Is this one incident going to make you stop writing? Really? This ONE thing?”
At this stage, you may want to wallow in some more self-defeating talk for a couple more moments. Go on, whimper. Sniffle. Get some Kleenex super soft tissues, from the Aloe Vera range you weak piece of shit.
Step 8: “Are you REALLY going to let this get you down?”
“You know… you’re not that shit.”
“You’re actually, not bad.”
NOW we’re talking.
Step 9: Time to recall some famous writer stories.
J.K Rowling. An unemployed and poor single mother goes from her Harry Potter manuscript being rejected 12 times before finally getting picked up… but even so, her editor encourages her to get a teaching job as it is unlikely she will earn much from writing children’s books.
She is now worth over 1 billion dollars (read, BILLION) with her name to one of the best-selling series in the world with 450 million copies SOLD.
Stephen King. Rejected his own story, Carrie, only to find his wife had taken it out of the garbage with the note for him to finish it. It was rejected over 30 times, but was eventually picked up and even turned into a movie.
He has over 50 novels to his name, has written hundreds of short stories, and remains one of the great fiction writers of this generation.
Dr Seuss. He had been rejected 27 times, and was literally on his way home to burn the manuscript when he bumped into an old friend. When he spoke of his woes from “a book no one will publish” his friend (also a children’s editor… how “co in-chi-den-che” – see the Tomei-Downey Jr. movie Only You for reference!♥ ) he read it and it was published.
He went on to write over 60 children’s books and remains a classic children’s writer through the ages.
Step 10: Woah. Now we are feeling just a little bit invincible. Almost like the way we felt when we first ventured into the writing world with fear and trepidation, hovering over the keyboard as we posed those first few words.
But we need something else.
Inject some creativity in your life… in the form of, MUSIC.
My fave go-to: Something loud and pumping, ROCK is real good.
Queen, for example.
Prince doing his Beautiful Ones where he screeches at the end is also uplifting in a very RAW way.
Or you know, on the other spectrum we can go ‘alternative/new wave rock’ and play something like INXS’ Need You Tonight… you know the story, of how Andrew Farriss famously made the taxi driver who was meant to take him to the airport, wait an hour as he wrote the riff to the song? He then passed it onto Michael, who quickly penned the words to what would become the song… incredible.
You need to surround yourself with genius. Genius thoughts. Genius inspiration. Genius creativity.
Step 11: Ok, we are HERE. Perhaps you feel so unstoppable, so charged, the muse starting to move within you, that something you scribble on toilet paper while passing a bowel movement (why do you have a pen in there?) can be considered LEGENDARY.
“What am I going to do next?”
“What course will I look at?”
“What can I learn from this?”
Start work-shopping ideas to get around your initial rejection.
Step 12: Start with this quote by Albert Einstein: “Failure is success in progress.”
NEXT, sit at your computer.
And start writing.
🙂
“If they are talking about everyone else to you, rest assured you won’t be spared from the same fate – you will be the ‘news’ too.”
– SmikG
“Don’t trust a person who won’t look you in the eye when they ask you about your day.”
-SmikG.
“Don’t judge your life on a rainy day.”
– SmikG
Is there something you want?
Is there something that interests you, that’s burning a fire deep within your soul?
Is there a vision of something you see, so close in your mind but seemingly so far from your fingertips?
My personal advice: HANG ON.
Be unrelenting in your passion. – Smik G.
smikg 