This blog challenge is just the thing for January, which is usually a long, cold, uneventful month. I've met so many wonderful, creative souls who have gone out of their way to encourage me. I sit at night until the wee hours of the morning reading all the wonderful blogs on the Ultimate Challenge Facebook page. Last night I found the best advice, for both my business and personal life. It was in the blog Be A Rich Chick by Antoinette Sykes. At first I thought it was just about business, but upon reading the post, I discovered a valuable premiss for living life in general.
The blog headlined a quote from Will Smith that I had never seen before. This quote made more sense to me than anything I have read in a long time:
"Don't chase people. Be yourself, do your own thing, and work hard. The right people – the ones who really belong in your life – will come to you. And stay."
~ Will Smith
Who knew Will was such a wise individual? Certainly not me. Catch the first line: "Don't chase after people."
That's the line that smacked me right between the eyes. I used to run around so concerned about what others think of me; do they like me? Do they think I'm a nice person? Am I doing things right? etc. etc. These past two years I've really come upon the truth of this statement quite by accident. After one year of retirement, I wanted to write, but was at loose ends as to how. I joined the Cape Cod Writers Center, made a ton of writer friends, and plunged right in. I stopped wondering if I was "doing it right". I just went about it by following my heart. Without realizing it or trying for it, now, three years later, I ended up in the Cape Cod Children's Writers group, which I am honored to be a part of, and second Vice President of The Cape Cod Writers Center. I still don't know how I got to either place. The thing I do know, is that I stopped chasing people and worrying about what they think of me and my writing craft. I just did what needed to do and worked hard at it.
Sure enough. What Will said is certainly true. Once I let go of obsessing over myself and being insecure and just plunged myself into writing the best way I knew how, all these wonderful people showed up in my life. And stayed. You all know who you are. 🙂
Now I'm doing the same thing with my art. I'm not worrying about how good people think it is. I'm just doing it to the best of my ability, having fun with it, and putting it out there. Once again, over these first few days of this challenge, wonderful people have crossed first my blog, and then my life. And I sincerely hope they stay. You, too, also know who you are.
Thank you Antoinette Sykes for being my inspiration today. Please visit Antoinette's blog and gain some insight at:
And so, as another day goes by, today I give gratitude for all my new blogger friends, who are also writers, artists and really nice people, and….I have written.
Well, well, well…I’m so glad to have inspired you. You’ve got the right idea…especially for 2013. It’s not until we can be authentic and stand in our OWN power that we can attract others and TEACH/SHOW them how to treat you! They will LOVE you and if not…they are NOT meant to be in your space. Happy New Year!
Great job on your post! Will Smith has so many amazing quotes and I love this one on being yourself, not obsessing and worrying about others!! 😀
I agree that we need to be ourselves. We can’t please everybody. I once posted a YouTube video about my children making pottery on a pottery wheel, and I had people cussing at me. It was stupid. They hated toy pottery wheels, and they took their anger out on me, even though I wasn’t selling pottery wheels. I was just filming my sweet children. I got so many thumbs down that I decided that I didn’t care what other people thought. Eventually I got great comments. In other words, maybe someone is on drugs or out to say bad things about someone for no reason. You have to be yourself.
Love how you gave props to a fellow blogger! I was always surprised to see Will Smith’s name after wise quotes until they kept coming up. He’s a Philly boy who made it big. I guess he has to know something about something!