How To Not Give Up On A Dream
Even when the odds are against you
If you've ever felt discouraged by the obstacles you face in achieving your goals, you're not alone. My life is far from being an endless string of successes.
I have failed a lot and faltered often.
Being a messy perfectionist doesn’t help either. This is a 2011 sketch I did when I first started my daily practice of drawing in the morning, with a Tina Fey quote that I drew inspiration from: “There are no mistakes, only opportunities.” At the time, I had no formal art training and was new to the medium of comics. But in cartooning, I found something worth making mistakes for.
Progress is seldom a straight line. To keep myself going, through the ups and downs, I sometimes need to go back to where I started and turn hard challenges into a daily game -- make it fun and make it play. It breaks goals down into smaller steps and reminds me of why I'm pursuing them at all.
Despite everything, I'm not giving up on my dreams. Maybe, in hindsight, I'm blessed by my failures.
Your poem strongly reminds me of Mary Oliver, who also had a remarkable ability to find the sacred in the ordinary. Thank you for continuing to share your art with us.
Bottom line: if haven't created anything yet, what have you got to lose by trying? If you have created something, what have you got to lose by trying a second time?