Not The Way You Hoped

“The vacuum of excitement and the sadness in the creative adventure is also a gift. It shows you that you’ve found something that unlocks a deeper part of you…the part that is willing to get sad. Of course it hurts. But there’s a lot of people walking around not doing anything they care enough about to be sad and frustrated when it doesn’t go to plan.” -Gabe Andersen

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss. -poem If by Rudyard Kipling

You busted your ass getting ready for the audition.

You spent countless hours preparing the pitch.

You planned the perfect event.

You trained like a demon and went all out in the race.

All that time.

All that energy.

All that work.

All that sacrifice.

But you didn’t get the job.

They didn’t like the pitch.

No one showed up to the party.

You lost the race.

Things didn’t go the way you hoped.

And I know. It stings. It hurts. A lot.

But damnit, you tried. You put yourself out there. And what a gift you had. To be able to want something and then go for it. So many people don’t get this gift. They don’t have anything they care enough about to risk. To go all out like you just did.

Take a moment to be sad. To grieve.

And then go find the next meaningful thing to care about.

If you can do that again and again and again, then you will have one helluva good life.