Slowing Down Is Not Failure

If you measure your worth by output, this one’s for you.

Hi friend!

I’ve written and published two books before, so I know going into book 3 that editing is going to be the hard part! Guess where I am right now? Editing! And it is hard!

Somedays I stare at a paragraph for 20 minutes before deciding what to do with it. Other times, Lin is not behaving the way I really want her to, and I need to figure out how to write it differently.

Resilient, the novel I am working on, follows the life of Lin, a hard-working, perfection-seeking, achievement-oriented woman.

I’m not Lin; we are very different people. But I completely understand her drive to achieve. To be recognized. To get it exactly right. Did I have a shelf of trophies and ribbons as a child? Yes, I did. Did I once spend 30 minutes working on a single math problem because I wanted to “get it right”? Also, yes. Did I grow up hearing the phrase “practice makes perfect” and TOTALLY believe it? Wholeheartedly!

Editing this book is forcing me to practice the lesson Lin learns. Slowing down is not failure.

I want this book to show women how they, too, can live with an illness when rest feels like weakness. To recognize that sometimes their health must take priority over other goals they have. To show the way friends can guide us, encourage us, and even fight with us, to become better versions of ourselves.

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Did I accomplish everything I set out to in my book? Only readers’ feedback will tell me for certain. But I can set goals beyond just what others say. We need to have barometers within ourselves to gauge how we are doing and not rely on others’ opinions of us.

Where are you measuring yourself by someone else's yardstick? Is your health asking for your attention, but you keep postponing? What would you change if you knew deep within yourself that your worth WASN’T tied to your output?

It doesn’t feel good in the moment. But when you’re proud of yourself—regardless of applause—you gain a steadier kind of peace.

So, I’ll keep editing. One imperfect paragraph at a time.

Be Well,

Beth

I’d love to hear from you —
Where in your life are you being invited to slow down right now?

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