My Muse, I Presume?

I actually sat down and wrote for a while yesterday. It was going well also. I'm so excited that I'm afraid my muse might get scared and run away again. I can't believe it. I was on a roll. It's been several weeks and I was starting to wonder if I would ever stop having writer's block. The editing has begun again in ernest. To those who are under the impression that they will get to read this novel during its second draft stage (I have probably indicated something to you about that) this is good and bad news. It is good because you might be interested in reading it. It is bad because I'm sure my book is crap and you won't like it.

So, now that I feel more motivated, I have tons of things to do. I have a book to review and comment on (to the author of such, you know who you are, I'm sorry to be taking so long on this). I have people to talk to. I have to mail a bunch of photos out for various reasons. I have tons and tons of work to do! Before I get overwhelmed and hide under my desk I should smile and try to feel positive about this fact. Yes, I have lots to do, but once it is done I will have less to do. Actually, that's not true, it never is. For anyone. Life always thinks up a few more things to do and you just gotta learn to accept that and be happy about it.

I learned a long time ago that it's no good fretting over annoying things I have to do. My old job stunk, frankly. I developed photos and talked to angry customers all the time. I hated it at first, but then I realized that it was my job and decided I was just going to enjoy it. After that it was a fun job. I found ways to make the job interesting and discovered that if I did my best I actually felt a mild amount of satisfaction. When people took their photos, saw how pretty they looked because I cared and went off happy to have received excellent service I felt pretty darn good. It's also always best to remember the good experiences from work. Try to forget the bad ones, or minimize them in your mind once you have drawn whatever lesson is to be drawn (sometimes the lesson is that people suck!).

Often a positive attitude is based around circumstances. I think that's the wrong way to look at things. You're never going to be positive if you base it on what's going on around you because something crappy happens every day. Instead, you have to decide to be happy no matter what happens and then actually do just that. It's no good deciding and not following through on the decision. Yes, I can gripe and grumble with the best of them. But deep down I always try to find the best side of a bad day. Like today, I am in some sort of trouble at work that I didn't know I was in, somebody at my work died this past weekend and everybody is sad, I have people I am a representative to in other businesses refusing to do what I want them to do, but dang it, I got to talk to my favorite insurance guy and that was great. Life is full of sad things and bad things. It's mostly a great dark cloud. Yet there are small bright points in it. And it's always best to savor the bright moments and see the rest of life in light of those times when everything is good.