Do you remember me mentioning a couple who label their friendship as friends with benefits? The woman in the couple who is divorced says that she doesn’t know if she can ever trust enough again to remarry. The man replies, “Don’t let today’s disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams.” I realized as I wrote the man’s reply that it was a saying I had heard someplace. The woman’s husband turned out to be a real disappointment after they were married. Before marriage, he would open doors for her, he was considerate, and so on. After the wedding marriage, he did none of those things. You can see she probably had excellent reasons for divorcing him.
I wonder how many of us let our disappointments dictate our actions. Agents or editors did not greet everything that I wrote with enthusiasm. It would be easy to quit writing because of those disappointments, but I didn’t quit. I’m sure all of you have had disappointments in your life. I think I learned early on in life from something that I love to do that wasn’t always successful. There were times when I went fishing, and I did not get a fish or even a nibble. I was skunked! That didn’t stop me from going fishing again. Look at your disappointments. Have you given up on something just because you got skunked? What would’ve happened if you were successful? Do you still desire success in that area? Before you attempted again, think of ways to improve your chances of being successful. Would it be simple practice? Would it be getting further education? I’m sure you can think about the questions. After you answer your questions, then try again.
