Afraid To Do It? Sparkle MORE!
I picked up payroll for my day job today, the same that I do every week. Upon saying hello at the front desk, the lady helping me commented on the sparkle in my shirt. As we got to talking about our mutual weakness for sparkly things, I made the comment,
"Everyone should sparkle more."
Emphatically, she pointed at me.
"YES." She said.
It was a simple exchange, but the look on her face stayed with me the rest of the day. She resonated so much with that one statement. It validated our mutual weakness for anything sparkly.
But Why?
Was it because we wanted to feel justified in a sparkly purchase of another mermamid pillow or sparkling shirt?
Or was it because these material things triggered something deeper?
Now, yes, sometimes people just like to surround themselves with bright, shiny, glittering things because they are pretty to us. Pretty things make us feel good. Simple as that.
But, at least for me, some of these things broadcast something more about my personality and my inner spirit. Having a beautiful bouquet with one sparkling central piece or one great outfit with a glittering pin really shows the world the inner me that I can't verbalize.
That's what I meant about wishing people would sparkle more.
A Hard Truth
It can be terribly hard, either as an author or creative, to be brave enough all the time to put our 'sparkle' out there for the world to see and judge. It's hard because we are delicate creatures and our sparkling thing is, in essence, a part of ourselves. To watch it get trampled or ignored is literally crushing to our spirit.
Sometimes it seems easier to hide the 'sparkle' we know is inside of us because then, at least we know that it is safe.
But whatever your 'sparkle' is, it's not there to be hidden.
Whether it is still shiny and new, or whether it has already been run over and invalidated, your spirit will never feel truly fulfilled until that inner 'sparkle' is shining at its utmost capacity, outside of you and out in the world.
What Does That Mean
For many, that means pushing themselves to the limits in order to attain the highest form of recognition for their creativity, whether in print, on the screen or online. Utmost capacity means worldwide fame for many.
When some get anything less than that, they feel defeated and ashamed. Without worldwide fame, they feel they have wasted their life and their talent.
I beg to differ.
I like to look at 'sparkling at utmost capacity' to mean either bringing benefit to another being or at least showing the world that I refuse to be changed to be accepted.
Perhaps Garth Brooks said it best:
"It's not the world I am changing
What I do is so
This world will know
That it will not change me."
You have an inner sparkle inside of you right now. Maybe you really sparkle and shine when you write, yet you fear what you write will never be accepted by others. Maybe you have already shown your writing to your family and they did not like it. Perhaps your friends mocked you or dismissed it outright.
Maybe everyone was, even worse, apathetic to your efforts. As if what you wrote had no effect on them at all.
You Must Write On
We need that inner sparkle, no matter what they have said.
It has been put in you for a reason. Maybe not to become the next blockbuster author selling millions of copies worldwide. Maybe not to sell the rights of the story to Hollywood. Maybe not even to make enough to pay off your bills.
Maybe your efforts are to inspire another generation of writers in your own children. Maybe you are to write the one copy that sells to one other person that gives them the hope to carry on.
Maybe you are supposed to write just to tell the world that, in spite of the negativity and judgement and fear, that you refuse to hide and refuse to change just to conform. That you will, regardless of acceptance or fame, write and create and release that inner sparkle because it is what you are meant to do.
You Are Meant To Sparkle
And even if the world never knows your name, you mean so much to loved ones around you that every time you sparkle, they are lifted. They are comforted. They are encouraged to go on in their own journey. You inspire more than you know.
So if someone has told you the publishing world will never pay off, agree with them. If they shake their head at your latest efforts on another manuscript, don't worry about their judgement.
You are not sparkling for wealth and power.
You are just being you. Fabulous you.
Sparkle more today.
