Day: July 9, 2018

#UpbeatAuthors: Way Will Open

I once read a book about young romance and how a Quaker community helped the college-aged heroine and hero find themselves. One of the themes throughout the story was a quote: “Have faith and way will open.”

Faith is optimism. There are those who would disagree with me, but we define faith differently. I’m not talking about religious faith (the second and third definitions in the on-line Merriam-Webster Dictionary), but faith as “complete trust and confidence”.

“Have trust and confidence and way will open.”

About a year ago, part of my life was turned on its head. I saw the signs and even acknowledged them, but when the moment came, it was still a shock. I took a deep breath. Then another one. One event led to another unanticipated situation. I kept breathing. “It’s going to work out,” I told myself. When others around me asked, I replied with the same: “Everything is going to work out.”

I had decisions to make. Options to weigh. And through it all I keep reminding myself, “everything is going to work out.”  There were times when staying positive was work; moments when panic threatened to overwhelm me. I’m only human. I refused to give in to the despair.

“Have faith and way will open.”

In the end, everything not only worked out, but my life took a turn for the better. My optimism saved me. Way opened.

Dealing With Rejection

There is only one thing in your life over which you have control: your attitude. That includes your reactions to events, including rejection.

As an author, I’ve had to learn to deal with rejection. With poor contest scores. With bad reviews. One of my mentors told me, “You have 24 hours to mope. Then get back to work.” A New York Times best-selling author told me, “Every rejection means you’re one step closer to acceptance.” Having your baby dissed is never easy. Rejection, though, is an opportunity to take what you’ve learned from the experience and apply it to the future.

“That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” “Rejection builds character.” Clichés? You bet. But clichés are repeated statements of truth. Yes, I am stronger than I was. I am a better person because of the adversities in my life. No, this doesn’t make rejection any easier to handle; but knowing this does make it less stressful to forge ahead.

We can’t change the past. The future is ours to write.

 

Shopping

I hate shopping. Loathe and despise it. Grocery shopping, clothes, shopping, recreational shopping. This dislike has become worse with the advent of super malls and the disappearance of local or stand-alone stores.

Online shopping was made for me. A few weeks ago, my husband and I decided we needed a new bathmat. Ours was disgusting. But stores at the Maul never carry a full array of colors I even consider colors. So I went to Amazon. Where I found exactly what I wanted in a color I liked. I clicked the buy button. Two days later, the bathmat was delivered.

I was not inconvenienced in any way.

Brick and mortar stores have only themselves to blame for losing customers to online shopping. They’ve made accessing their locations too difficult. I used to be able to run to a nearby strip mall on my lunch hour and pick up items I needed from a department store or a discount store (Ames, Hills, K-Mart). Now the only stores in the strip mall are the liquor store and 14 versions Everything-A-Dollar. Running to the Maul on my lunch hour isn’t feasible because it takes an hour just to find a place to park.

When I do go to the Maul, the clerks are frequently (not always) ill-trained and/or rude.

I’d rather be writing.

Happy Name Yourself Day

I used to want to change my name, because very few others had my name. I couldn’t get those license plate name tag or anything else. Then I realized having an almost unique name was a good thing. Of course, nowadays, every Tom, Dick, and Harry…

I wasn’t the only person who wanted to change her name.  This passage is from one of my favorite childhood books:

“What’s your name?”

The child hesitated for a moment.

“Will you please call me Cordelia?” she said eagerly.

“Call you Cordelia? Is that your name?”

“No-o-o, it’s not exactly my name, but I would love to be called Cordelia. It’s such a perfectly elegant name.”

“I don’t know what on earth you mean. If Cordelia isn’t your name, what is?”

“Anne Shirley,” reluctantly faltered forth the owner of that name, “but, oh, please do call me Cordelia. It can’t matter much to you what you call me if I’m only going to be here a little while, can it? And Anne is such an unromantic name.”

“Unromantic fiddlesticks!” said the unsympathetic Marilla. “Anne is a real good plain sensible name. You’ve no need to be ashamed of it.”

“Oh, I’m not ashamed of it,” explained Anne, “only I like Cordelia better. I’ve always imagined that my name was Cordelia–at least, I always have of late years. When I was young I used to imagine it was Geraldine, but I like Cordelia better now. But if you call me Anne please call me Anne spelled with an E.”

“What difference does it make how it’s spelled?” asked Marilla with another rusty smile as she picked up the teapot.

“Oh, it makes such a difference. It looks so much nicer. When you hear a name pronounced can’t you always see it in your mind, just as if it was printed out? I can; and A-n-n looks dreadful, but A-n-n-e looks so much more distinguished. If you’ll only call me Anne spelled with an E I shall try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia.”

I could related to Anne perfectly.

Did you have a favorite childhood story that resonated with you?