Rising Stars, The Blog!

Can you or Can't you

         Vincent Van Gogh said, "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint', then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." What is your 'you cannot ____' voice always ragging on you about, and how good are you at silencing it?          


Haven't we all had those days where we've been certain we'll never be a writer or we'll never be whatever it is we were certain we could be? At the end of September, I was asked to put together a programme for our Church's Christmas event, a bigger thing than we'd done before. I have to say that I was so unsure that I could possibly do this, however, there were people relying on what I could put together in the following three months.

I have to say that at first, I felt out of my depth, I heard that voice that Vincent Van Gogh is quoting. You can't do it! I then realised that I had an outline of what I wanted for the event and by bringing in the right people, the whole thing came together brilliantly. That voice can be a killer. It can kill creativity, break a person's confidence and stop a career in its tracks. To move forward you always have to listen to another voice, the one that says you can do this. This is most important at the times when it seems as if you've failed when the rejection letters start coming. I'm not even there yet but I hope that I will cope with them well, with grace and not too much dejection.

I have included here three quotes that inspired me; I especially like the quote by Thomas Edison, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

The other two are:

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill
"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne