Success

So many things to do, and I'm excited. These past few years—past few months even—I've gained a lot of focus. I've shed so much fear. I've also gained a lot of impatience.

Impatience might not be the perfect word. Indignance might be right. It's probably a combo of impatient, frustrated, indignant, focused, relentless, excited, determined, and so many more.

There has been such a vivid shedding of some old shroud. Shroud 1 was shed about 1.5 years ago. Shroud 2 was shed maybe a month or so ago. One was gaining a freedom I thought I'd never have. Two was realizing that naysayers don't know anything.

Let me explain. I was recently chatting with a man who, by all accounts, is kind and wise. He asked me what I'm up to. Obviously, I said writing a book. Paraphrasing a bit but almost a direct quote, he said, "It's hard to make a living off of writing. What are you going to do instead?"

The man did not ask,
"May I read a sample of your book?"
"Is your writing any good?"
"How do you plan to make it work?"
"Do you have a sequel in mind?"
"Do you know what the market wants right now?"
"Who's your audience?"
"How long have you been writing?"
"What makes you think your book will make it?"
"Are you connected with any currently published authors?"
"Have you begun contacting agents?"

He didn't ask any of these things.

Despite all his experience and wisdom, all he said was, "What are you going to do instead?"

There was a time when I would have let that deflate me. I would have ended the conversation feeling like there was no hope for my book. I would have spent the rest of the evening brooding.

Thankfully, before that conversation, I had learned that people typically don't know, and people typically don't care. There is no bitterness in this realization.
A man named Laozi articulated it well:

For Themselves

Naysayers really aren't out to get you, out to ruin your life. They're just preoccupied with their own fears or impeded by their lack of knowledge. I want to say ignorance, but it has active connotations as if the person is choosing to be a stinker. In contrast, people just don't know; I want to call it obliviosity, the state of being oblivious, passively oblivious.

Naysayers are just afraid and oblivious. They've bought the notion that there are two paths: success or failure.

Success

To mitigate their feelings of failure, they encourage you to follow a path that ensures success—even if that success is minuscule and ultimately dissatisfying. They like that path because it's safe and comfortable. They like that path because it's familiar. They like that path because any other path would require reevaluating their approach to failure, success, priorities, and possibilities.

This man said, "What are you going to do instead?"
To pacify him, I said some other things that I've imagined doing.
However, I am that much more determined to write.

In any case, I have to go work on my website and like nineteen other things.