One of the cruel barriers to writing resilience is that negativity has a longer shelf life than positivity. For years I searched for my novel on bookstore shelves. Whether the book was on the shelves or not, my brain surmised the worst: the book wasn’t selling. The solution to such no-win thoughts?
Experts say it takes three positive thoughts to offset one negative thought. Stacking our positivity deck has the cumulative benefit of allow- ing us to unlock a range of options and stir the creative juices. When we reshuffle our negativity deck while writing a draft or making revisions, our creative juices start to automatically dwarf stress juices.
A few tips can help you stack the deck in your favor, bounce back from bad news, and weather difficult writing days:
- Avoid blowing things out of proportion
- Look for the upside of downside situations
- Focus on the solution instead of the problem
- Pinpoint the opportunity in a challenge
- Be chancy in new situations instead of letting survival fears hold the cards
- Step back from roadblocks and brainstorm possible stepping stones
- And hang out with positive people.
Today’s Takeaway
Deal yourself a positivity card on a regular basis to build your mind’s creative mojo and offset stress juices that could bring you to a screeching halt when you encounter a writing threat.
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