Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 12:40PM | Amy C Wisdom for Beginners
A beginner mountain bike trail at WhistlerBeing a beginner can be daunting. There are so many emotions and thoughts that twist and turn in our brains and in our hearts as we stumble forward, enjoying the process, hating the process, getting exciting about the process, wondering what the process actually is.
When a client shared this video with me earlier this week I wanted to jump up and down and say “YES!” It’s so encouraging and so dead on right when it comes to pushing through tough times.
It’s a short video of wise words from Ira Glass (of NPR’s This American Life) where he talks about the creative process and how when most people begin, we reach a phase of disappointment. That we can see where we want to go, but we know we’re just not there yet.
And it’s during this stage that most people quit.
They’re not good enough. They’ll never get it. They don’t know what they’re doing. Or so they tell themselves.
But that’s not true. If you’re in this boat, trust yourself. You know exactly what you’re doing and where you’re going. Your instincts are indeed killer.
It reminds me of running a marathon. There’s the Mile 20 Wall that everyone talks about where, at mile 20, running gets hard. Your body is drained, your energy is drained, the excitement of the race has worn off and you are left with a tired and sore body, hungry, thirsty and wanting to just stop.
But you keep moving. You keep pushing yourself one step at a time. It’s not pretty (or graceful or easy), but you do it.
And you make it.
So take heart (and keep moving forward) with these words of wisdom:
Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.
View the video directly on vimeo.
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Reader Comments (2)
I love this. I hope that someday I can measure up to my ambitions. Mind if I put this video on my weekly high-five report?
Hey Kim.
Please do! I think it needs to be spread out to as many ears and eyes as possible!