This morning I found a neat piece of wisdom on a Google+ post that I shared under my own profile. You can see it here, as I'm not sure I would be correct in posting it on my blog. So since I'm not sure, I'll just share the link. Better safe than sorry. And I even ran across it again later on Pinterest. If you've ever seen the movie The Empire Strikes Back, I'm sure you're familiar with the scene being quoted.
In short, the diminutive Jedi Master Yoda does something that his apprentice believed impossible. And the Master tells Luke that there is no try, you either do something or you don't. Luke expresses his disbelief over what he just saw, and the teacher in Yoda furthers the lesson by letting the young man know that his lack of belief is the reason why he fails.
Yoda's wisdom may be a bit flawed, because if you don't try to do something, you will definitely not do it. But was that what he was really saying to his student? The first definition of "try" at Dictionary.com is: "to attempt to do or accomplish." So it might depend on the attitude behind the word "try". Luke obviously didn't expect to succeed, so if we're honest about his trying to levitate the spaceship we would say it was half-hearted. At best. Not only did Luke believe it was impossible for him to do, he believed it was impossible for anyone to do. Even after he saw it with his own eyes, he was still struggling with disbelief. How could anyone accomplish such an outrageous task???
It is that lack of faith in themselves that plagues many people. Even when we know that something is possible, we doubt that it is possible for us to do. Our beliefs in ourselves determines whether or not we "do" something. Who am I to think that I will succeed at being an author? Aren't I destined to scrape along the bottoms for the rest of my life? How can I think that I can be more than what I've always been?
Because I'm an author. I like to tell stories. Well, I like to write stories and have people read them. Because when it comes to verbally telling a story, I really kind of suck. That's a weird quirk, I suppose, but it is all too true.
And why shouldn't I publish my story? It's interesting and my characters are lovable (except the ones that aren't meant to be!) When I made the decision to self publish, it was in answer to my questioning of myself. "I either believe in my story, or I don't."
I believe that I will succeed. I smart enough to know that I will make mistakes along the way, but I know that it is a necessary step to learning what I need to do to be that success. I know that those mistakes do not equal failure. I believe that my career is just starting, and that it will last until long after my death. It may seem impossible, but I know that to be a self-defeating attitude.
If you feel that no one in your life believes in you, take a good long look at yourself in the mirror. Do you believe in yourself? Because you are your biggest influencer, no matter who else you might have speaking into your life. Don't be afraid to attempt to do something, because even if you make mistakes that doesn't mean you've failed - you will at the least learn what you need to do differently to succeed.
The only thing that was holding me back from publishing when I became aware of how 'easy' it was through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing was myself. I was afraid of failing. But then I realized that the true failure would be not doing anything at all. So I did it - I published my novel and threw myself into the deep vast ocean of it all knowing that I even though I wasn't sure how to swim, I at least knew enough to float until I got my bearings.
I'm doing it.
2014 ~ Full Speed Ahead
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