You Are Exactly Where You Need to Be In Your Writing Career

I found this wonderfully inspiring article courtesy of Mark Henson that I wanted to share with you today.  For the full article, go to: https://markhenson.me/exactly-where-you-need-to-be/

I’m going to get a little zen, woo woo and existential on you. Ready?

Wherever you are in life is exactly where you need to be right now.

Even if you’re not where you want to be right now.

Even if you’re not fulfilled where you are right now.

Even if you’re in a really bad place right now.

I know it doesn’t always FEEL like you’re exactly where you need to be, but trust me, you are.

We think that when things are going well, when we’re achieving our goals, when we land our dream job, only THEN we are exactly where we need to be. But let me ask you this: how did you get there?

Didn’t you get to those great moments in life by spending a fair amount of time in places you didn’t want to be? Didn’t you have stretches of life when you weren’t fulfilled? Didn’t you fight and claw your way through some pretty bad times physically, mentally, and spiritually?

Didn’t those tough times teach you valuable lessons about desire, motivation, resilience, perseverance, patience, tolerance, and more?

As a little green Jedi once said, search your feelings, you know it to be true.

If you climb a mountain, some parts of the trail are easy and beautiful, some are treacherous and scary, and some cause you to stumble and skin your knees. And you spend a lot more time on the trail than you do at the peak.

Yes, you ARE exactly where you need to be right now.

I’m not telling you to seek out the silver lining (although it is usually there if you look hard enough). I’m also not telling you to look for valuable lessons about desire, motivation, resilience, perseverance, patience, tolerance, etc. during the tough times (although they are definitely there if you are open to them). And I’m absolutely not telling you to “enjoy the journey” (because sometimes you just won’t).

What I AM telling you is that I believe there is a reason why you are where you are right now. I also believe you don’t have to know what that reason is. In fact, you might drive yourself nuts if you try to figure it out in the moment (or ever, really). One of the hardest things to let go of is the desire to know the why behind everything. Hear me on this, the desire to understand the why is almost always a want, not a need. It doesn’t change the fact that you are where you are.

Sometimes you just need to be where you are, be as okay as you can be with it, and know that it is just temporary. Actually, know that these times are ALWAYS temporary (even if they last longer than we’d like).

Oh, and one more thing: just because you are exactly where you need to be right now doesn’t mean you should stay there — especially if it’s a place you don’t want to be. Keep moving forward — one tiny step at a time if that’s all you can do. You can climb an entire mountain one tiny step at a time. That’s how I published a book— one step, one page at a time. And it only took a year and a half of not being where I wanted to be, but being exactly where I needed to be, until I got there.

And that concludes today’s moment of zen, woo woo, and existentialism.

Until next month,
Jenna
www.jennaives.com