Living the Good Life with Determination
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Aug 30 2018
Not too long ago I talked about how I was making a concerted effort to stop using the word “busy.” We have a habit, when people ask how we are doing, to say we’re busy and it often comes with a sigh and a bit of a moan about how hard life is. And I didn’t like that anymore. I didn’t like the implication that my life was too busy and therefore not joyful because the truth is I want a very busy life. If work weren’t busy that would mean books weren’t selling and authors are no longer knocking on my door. If life weren’t busy I wouldn’t have activities to attend, hobbies I wanted to take on, and projects to do. Busy is good, but the use of the word busy always feels weighted to the negative.
So instead of saying I was busy, I started saying I was good and great and even things were wonderful. Approaching life this way makes a difference. I feel grateful for my life when I tell people my life is good. I am not sucking others into a vortex of negative energy and I’m putting positive energy out there for myself and maybe for others.
Well recently there’s another word I’ve been using and not liking and the word is, “hard.” Now I’m not one to say life is hard because for me it really isn’t. I live a pretty good life, but there are things at work I would say is hard. For example, women’s fiction is hard — there just aren’t as many publishers/editors to submit to as, say, mystery. Or writing this pitch letter is hard. Ugh. I hate even typing that. None of this is hard. It’s challenging, I have to work with more focus and determination. But it’s not hard and the use of the word hard, like the word busy, only adds an aura of negativity to everything I’m doing. By saying it’s hard I’m making it hard and excusing myself for not working at it enough, or I’m excusing future failure for which there is no excuse.
So if you ask me, I’m no longer busy and things aren’t hard. I am joyful, things are going great, life is full of challenges and this is making me think more and that inspires me and excites me.
I love that attitude because we all tend to forget at challenging times how very lucky we are. Sometimes I see an item on the news and it smacks me in the face just how fortunate I am and how ‘hard’ life really could be.
Thanks for the reminder. (Struggling to write a query letter so needed it!) Keep trucking!
Hard is one I rarely say.
I remember when you posted about “busy” and I resolved to now use it, but I failed on that front. The thing I’ve realised is that I don’t see “busy ” as having to be a negative. I’m the sort of person who needs to be busy and I use it whether I am working or relaxing. I’m always on the go and it really does describe how things are for me. What I needed to do was make sure the tone I said it in was positive. I make sure I say it with a smile and never with a frown.