Regain your energy and mindset.
A lot of soul-searching has been done in the past and current year. Life became stressful and breakdowns happened often. I questioned where my career was headed, if I had the strength to endure more failure, what I was doing with my life. I gave up, picked myself back up, then gave up again.
It was a vicious cycle, one I can’t say I’m entirely over. But, I’ve found ways to weather the dark days. By remembering these simple yet empowering things, I’m able to keep going, no matter how hard it gets. …
Time to get unstuck
You were on a writing roll: sentences came together with ease, the words used perfectly described the environment. You’ve painted a clear picture and you can’t help but lean back in your chair, hands behind your head, and smile. The sense of accomplishment is unlike anything you’ve felt before.
You decided to take a break. When you came back, that pace you started with has dissipated. You’re typing at a slower pace and your brain isn’t working as fast.
You’ve reached the middle of your novel. And now, you’re stuck.
You’ve laid out a beautiful world filled with interesting and…
I don’t want to go the traditional routes
I made the transition to fiction a couple of months ago. It wasn’t easy, knowing how less lucrative fiction is compared to nonfiction.
As a kid, all I wrote was fiction. Stories developed in my mind, daydreams of publishing books as an adult fueled my passion. Even when I gave it up after being told it wasn’t a viable career, I couldn’t let it go completely.
In an incompleted quest to find a good mix of profitable and low-pressure writing careers (I bounced around ideas from narrative design to starting another blog), I decided to take a crack at fiction…
When I started writing on here, I didn’t know where it would lead. I went through plenty of ups and downs. I wanted to quit many times and eventually, I did.
It all became too much. When I realized the money potential, it became my driving force. I researched popular topics, wrote about trends, then became discouraged when the stats didn’t reflect my effort.
I felt defeated. I blamed the system, blamed myself for not being lucky enough. I gave up on a platform I did well on. (700-ish followers may seem small to some, but it’s the most I’ve…
Give yourself a break by throwing out your resolutions list
A new year marks the beginning of setting resolutions. It’s the same ones advertised over and over again to help those gain a starting point: weight loss, chasing your dreams, and finding everlasting love.
Some look forward to the new year and what opportunities it will bring. Others focus on what could go wrong or try to force happiness in hopes of setting the theme for the months ahead.
Resolutions incite anxiety in a lot of us. Setting such distinct goals don’t offer motivation, only fear.
The way we view goal-making is as a hit or miss. If we succeed…
Put negativity in its place.
Negative self-talk never helps. It only hurts. It normally starts by thinking we aren’t good enough or worthy.
It’s time to banish that thinking entirely. Here’s how you can conquer negative self-talk.
Stop Comparing
Comparison is a death sentence to creativity and self-worth. The moment you start analyzing what everyone around you is doing, you’ll enter a dark tunnel with no end in sight.
Social media makes comparison tempting. You log onto Facebook or Instagram to check in on friends and those you admire. Next thing you know, you’re endlessly scrolling and drowning in a flood of emotions.
When you stop to…
Not listening to my dad is number one
As of late, I’ve been dealing with this weird feeling. It feels as if I fell asleep when I turned 18 and woke up a few years later. During this time, everything to do with my career feels like a blur.
I dropped out of school at 17 and by the time I hit 18, I was lost. I didn’t know what to do for a career — what I wanted from my future. I bounced around ideas before finally settling on creating a business I would end up regretting later.
Those memories and the feelings from that time play…
Don’t believe what you’ve heard before
I have two failed blogs and one small business. Fresh into adulthood, I neglected my desire to become a writer in favor of a more stable career.
I guess I have an unconventional way of thinking since I considered building a business from scratch like that. I had no experience; I was a high school dropout who never had a job before.
I desperately wanted to prove myself. No one at school thought very highly of me and I’d been bullied since middle school.
For the first time since dropping out, I was able to get to know myself outside…
Don’t let it control your life any longer.
We’ve all been there. We’re nervous and anxious experiencing something new for the first time. While we’re caught up in the antics of it all, something slips out of your mouth. Was that me who said that? You think.
Everyone glazes it over, continuing on with whatever they were doing previously. But, you can’t stop replaying what you said in your head.
You can’t help but look over your shoulder while you watch them have conversations — most likely about you. Or so you think. And now you’re embarrassed and want to crawl under a rock.
You’re not the first…
After being disowned and kicked out, I want to be financially independent
My first experience living a rich lifestyle was in elementary school, when my mom and I were reunited with my grandfather. He took us from the east coast to the west, giving us our own rooms in his house.
His house wasn’t big, it looked like every other one in the small town we then called home. The only difference was how extravagant it was on the inside. I remember the “zoo,” as I called it — a variety of big statues of cheetahs, elephants, and other exotic animals. …
