I don’t know what time zone you live in. I don’t know what you like to do. Maybe you are a writer. Maybe you are a painter. Perhaps your teacher told you your writing was stupid. Maybe a classmate or your teacher laughed at your painting of a cow.
What they said to you doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t. Someone might tell you what you wrote is, “The stupidest thing they have every read.”
Just smile, and keep writing.
Just smile, and keep painting your cows.
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Yesterday morning I said to my husband.
“Hey Nick, will you share one of my stories on reddit.”
“Sure, which one?”
I thought maybe one hundred people might read the story, but not more than that. I checked on my web-site in the late afternoon, and over 3,000 people had read the story. At the end of the day yesterday 6,244 people had read it.
56% of the people liked it. There were 239 up votes and 186 down votes.
Some of the comments were,
- At least I learned how to write an annoying, passive-aggressive article from this…
- I find writing like this to be fairly nauseating.
- This is the stupidest thing I have ever read.
Not everyone will like what you create – create anyway
Do no look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.
Andrew Carnegie
I can’t write to please everyone, but someone, somewhere will be touched if I put my heart into it.
Sara Winters
Whatever you do, whether you are a janitor or a doctor. Be the best you can be.
William Fernuik – my father
Did you stop writing because you were worried about the opinion of others?
Did you stop painting because someone didn’t like the painting you made?
Did the President of the United States stop being President because not everyone voted for him?
Do you worry about what other people think?
Please let me know in the comments. I would love to chat.
