Dedication
to Your Path
“You
can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes
or failures.”
Elizabeth
Gilbert (Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear; Riverhead Books, New York, 2015)
I made
a fabric piece that was a rendition of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” painting. I
knew it came nowhere close to the original, because I have not suffered for my sanity
nearly as much as he did. But “Another Starry Night” wanted to be born, so I
did it. I have made a dragon that looks like a girl-chicken, and oceans teaming
with funky-looking fish, and purses with women’s faces on them. You may look at any of the pieces
of art or writing that I have done and hate what you see. You would, no doubt,
take the quote above and write something entirely different. And, because all
our paths are not the same, there is no harm in that, there is no right or
wrong. The only thing that matters is being true to yourself, and not allowing
anyone to knock you off your path with their criticism or lack of
understanding. What you do creatively is your soul work, and it’s only between
you and your creator.
Now,
this dedication to your soul work may mean you work a “day-job,” or it may mean
that you can only do it in fits and starts, because we all have to feed ourselves.
But that should not stop you. It will only mean that, of necessity, you rearrange
your priorities to allow for time. Soul work, as with any other work, does
require attention, time, and space. So, sacrifices will be made. We all know accomplished
musicians who still practice five or six hours every day.
I have also learned that
persistence is required—we cannot give up at first failure. Most of us weren’t
born knowing how to play a violin, or how to knit, or how to win at tennis.
Learning and persistence are necessary to become good at anything. If you want
to be on a swim team, you get up early and go to the pool to train and
condition. You can’t just show up the day of the meet and perform optimally.
Dedication to your path is the same—you get up and do it even when you would
rather be doing something else.
The
goal of dedication to your soul work, or any work, is satisfaction in knowing
that you have done your best—not that it’s perfect. I don’t know about you, but
I feel dissatisfied when I do something sloppy. My daddy’s voice rings in my
ears, “Don’t half-ass it, girl! Do it right or don’t do it!” That applies to
raking the yard as much as to writing a story or painting a canvas. When we
stand back and look at our work and feel good about it, that is the reward. If
someone else likes it too, that’s gravy on your mashed potatoes. After seven
decades, I can tell you for sure that knowing you’ve lived a purposeful life,
that you have followed the path set before you and done the best you could, is
the best possible outcome—not how much money is in your bank account, or how
many awards you’ve won for what you do. Dr. Fauci comes to mind—given a choice
between outrageous fame or doing the work he’s dedicated his life to, doesn’t
even warrant a thought. He chooses his work every minute of every day.
If you
know what your path is, don’t let fear of failure keep you from it. Failure is
how you get better—trust me on this one. I have a lifetime of experience with
failure, and I’ve learned my best lessons from it. You will too. Just keep
trying, keep going, don’t give up. That is what dedication looks like.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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