Learning to Listen
Sometimes we ignore the lessons life displays for us, even when the lessons resemble huge neon signs. Maybe we were looking the other way, or were too wrapped up in our own perceived realities.
I made choices, both good and bad, based on my own thoughts and perceptions. The repercussions were not a part of my decision-making process, and when the repercussions came, I was blindsided.
In the latter half of 2017, I stopped talking and started listening. Let that marinate for a second. I started listening to the people in my life who cautioned patience to me, knowing that patience has never been my strong point. I started listening to the older, wiser folks who told me that a job is just a job, not a destination for me to settle for. I paid attention to my wife's advice to remember who I am and what I want out of life. I listened to a good friend's words of wisdom as she told me to quit being lazy with my writing and to focus not just on storytelling, but on everything else that goes with being a good writer. Also, I was told to expand my writing to include everything, not just fiction or poetry. Indeed.
With all of the sagacity being heaped upon me, I was forced to listen, and to respond accordingly.
My job, where I've spent the last nineteen years, is a place where I collect a check with which to pay bills and fuel my daydreams. It's not the end-all, be-all of my existence. It is not the definition of me. My days are numbered there, because I have bigger fish to fry.
Everything in my life always circles back to writing. That's the neon sign I'd been ignoring. For my 2018 goal, I promised one hundred submissions. It's down to ninety-seven. I'm sending articles, essays, poems, short stories, and novels to magazines, anthologies, agents, contests, and publishers. I have learned to listen.
The last listening lesson has been the most painful, but the one I needed the most. I learned to listen not for the applause and kudos of fans and friends, but to the sounds of silence from those who aren't clapping for me. Their silence speaks volumes...