Shrugging It Off

Here is a photo of my nephew Bryson enjoying the leaves this past fall. I came across this today while browsing through all of my photos. I've had a recent disappointment and was looking for something to make me smile. This did it.

I am going to take Bryson's lead and just shrug it off. Sometimes we tend to seek validation in little things that we put out there, e.g. a work of art or a piece of writing in a contest, and when we get rejected or not recognized we then begin to question whether our work really has any value at all. That's what I have been doing lately and I don't like the feelings it stirs up.

I love to write. I am learning to make art. Those are enough for me. Yes, it would be nice to be recognized in a public forum, but I know that rejection is part of the game when it comes to submitting your work in whatever form you choose. The key is not to take it personally and to move on to the next venue. Giving up completely or taking the rejection personally is where alot of people go wrong. You pick yourself up, begin another project and learn. That's what I am going to do.

This photo is so refreshing. Sometimes it takes having the mind of a child to redirect our focus in life. Not everything can be so simple, of course. But minor setbacks or disappointments don't have to be any more than that. Life is too short to dwell on negatives. There are so many little pleasures to be found in a day.

I have a few art projects still in the works; projects for myself that I want to display in my home when they are finished. I am still working on the digital book project, just for the learning experience of manipulating a little more of the features in the Photoshop program. So I have lots to occupy my time and help me over this minor bump. This small disappointment won't stop me from doing what I love to do. Today I decide to just shrug it off!