I recently came off a 3-1/2 day writer’s conference that was livestreamed from Florida. Mercifully, their particular location was spared the worst of Hurricane Matthew, so they were able to keep to their planned schedule rather than having to juggle a huge agenda.
I couldn’t catch too many of the sessions live due to my full-time job, but so far, the replays of the sessions I missed have been just as terrific as those I watched live. I can’t wait to watch the rest of them this coming week. The conference has been a real morale booster at an especially stressful, tender time in my life.
I will have pages of notes eventually but one of the things that stood out and has stayed with me was a comment from one of Saturday’s speakers. (Whenever Saturday’s live sessions are uploaded for replay, I can name him correctly. Update: His name is Ted Capshaw.)
The speaker was obviously targeting the writers who were present and/or attending virtually as we simultaneously dealt with the aggravating world we too often battle. I believe his comment applies to every single person reading this, and then some. We have to stand up for what we believe in, and keep going back into the arena until we are beaten down and ready to be called Home. And that “when” is not our decision, not at all.
The speaker said we should all give ourselves a standing ovation. And I agree! It doesn’t matter what our occupation is or where we are in our mortal journey. We are dealing with life as it is lived. And there is no shame in applauding ourselves for surviving the endless attacks launched at us and our country from inside and out. We are only expected to do our best and we know when that is happening and when it isn’t.
We are constantly adapting to fast balls, curve balls and foul balls, and sometimes we get knocked down, even knocked out. Or someone chooses to slide into us, spikes up. There are also many people in the world who think it’s cute and oh-so-manly or womanly to hit below the belt on an offensive basis. As a defensive measure, that may be the only way of protecting ourselves and our families. To deliberately go after someone in that manner is never acceptable.
We deal with many kinds of tragedy on a daily basis, whether it’s at home or far away. The rest of us reel and stagger from the emotional shock, and often from the physical trauma of it, too. We don’t always come out of a day unscathed, whether dealing with inept school administrators or unconscionable judges who need to be impeached, or just our mundane 9 to 5 lives.
Remember to give yourself a standing ovation!