We Can't Spell S ccess Without U





I saw a poster a couple weeks ago that said:

"We can't spell s ccess without U."

The phrase caught my attention. It got me thinking about just how important we all are in the grand scheme of things.

For example, if a group of guys named John, Paul, George, and Ringo never met and started plucking away at songs then the world would have been deprived of some pretty darn great music.

Say, if Aristotle had not believed the earth was round, we may still be frightened of falling off of the edge of the earth. (At least I think it was Aristotle. Let me know if I'm mistaken.)

And, what the devil would we do if someone hadn't come up with the brilliance of Kraft Mac & Cheese. Sheesh, we would all die of starvation, right? Okay, I've pushed the envelope a bit too far. But you get my point.

Now, to the meat of my post.

In general, I compare myself to everyone and their monkey. Uh... Oh, Dog. When I learned to speak Chinese to live in Taiwan for a year and a half, I thought everyone elses language skills trumped mine at least three-thousand percent. For the most part, this brought about great heartache and loss of awesome experiences communicating with the natives.

I compare with my writing, too. Slap me, please! I know I shouldn't, but ingrained in Julia's genes is the insecurity that I'm not good enough. Perhaps, I'm giving away too much, but maybe some of you who read this feel the same way.

One of my good friends told me that only I can write what I write, and I am super special for it. My words (after polishing them off a bit) are the best way that can tell my stories to the world. I shouldn't compare what I write or my journey with words with anyone elses. That's only setting me up for failure.

We needed J.K. Rowling to come up with Harry Potter. We can't spell success without her. We needed J.R.R. Tolkien to think up his fantastical world found in The Lord of the Rings. We can't spell success without him.

The list is endless, but you get the idea.

I quote this: "We can't spell s ccess without U."

Keep on dreaming, writing, and sharing YOUR stories! And for heaven's sack, STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER WRITERS! I know I have to work on this one loads.

Have you ever compared yourself with others when it comes to your writing? How have you pulled yourself out of that muddling pit?

Writing. Jewels.

I'm Good. You're Good. We're All Good.

I've never felt particularly good at anything. Ok, that's a really bad way to start a blog post, huh? Well, it's true. Throughout school I sucked at math. How about we not even talk about school--I disliked the whole experience. Eight years of piano lessons were cool, but I never thought counting was super important. Ummm, it is! When I had to learn Chinese to live in Taiwan for 18 months, I tried my hardest to speak the language, but in the end my tones didn't quite ring true. Trying to learn French made Chinese feel like a walk in the park, though. I am pretty good at cleaning so at least I can say I'm good at that.

But...

It wasn't until I started writing that I realized I'm good at something. The thing is I've stuck with this dream. That one point is why I feel like I'm talented at this skill. As for my piano lessons, if I would have been more dedicated to it, I may have excelled further. Did I? Nope.

That's when I feel becoming good, great, amazing at something happens--when you stick with it! Regardless of the struggles that go along with acquiring a skill, punching through them is where true excellence can occur. Over two years of writing, rewriting, revising, and throwing whole chapters away, I've realized I'm good at something. Also, I have a huge desire to continue to become better.

That's the thing, friends. In the past, I wasn't super dedicated to the things I participated in. For example, sports classes in school were hard because my coordination skills were (are) terrible. However, if I'd have put in a bit more effort, I may have been good at it. Oh, and yes, if my head wasn't a target for soccer, dodge, foot, basket, or baseballs, it could have been easier, too!

Getting to the point! I like, love, adore writing. It's something I never thought would be my career path. One in which I wouldn't change any of the challenges I've gone through along the way.

In short, I'm good at writing (at least I think so). :D

What are you good at? And what have you done to get there?

Writing. Jewels.

Parlez-vous français ?

French… my next feat. Why am I doing this to myself - learning another language and taking a class. Once I graduated last year with my Bachelors in Anthropology, I vowed I would never ever sit in another formal classroom again. I guess that I have failed but its a good kind of failure. I feel like to fully embrace my book, learning French is a must (its set in Paris so what better thing to do than learn the language).
I figure if I can learn Mandarin Chinese then I can do anything. Seven years ago, I lived in Taiwan for some time and was able to learn the language. I swear Chinese took 10 years off of my life. It was incredibly difficult. How many years will French take off of my life, I wonder?
Funny story, a few years back, there was an ASL class straight after the one I attended. They would only sign when they were in the class. Automatically, my mind thought, “If you want to communicate with them then you should speak Chinese. They will understand you for sure!” At that point, Chinese almost came out of my mouth (once it actually did).
The same thing happened last year when I traveled to France and Italy. There was numerous times where I almost caught myself trying to communicate with the natives in Chinese. Of course, I thought, they for sure will understand me. It made me laugh every time that Chinese did come out of my mouth.
Hopefully, learning French will help me to communicate with French speaking people instead of whipping out my Chinese to them. The problem now is not to speak FreChinglish while learning.