“It’s really just a small hurdle.” I have heard this metaphor at least a hundred times, but for some reason reading that text message from my brother really made things click. He was right, it was a small hurdle in the grand scheme of things and I was going to get over it.
I had turned in one of my first large mixed media and acrylic paintings to a local contest and it was turned down with the critique of being “too crafty and unoriginal.” Naturally any kind of failure hurts, especially when you fail right out of the starting blocks, but it’s not the end. It just sucks. So after wincing and holding back tears from my tumble, I am back on my feet.
Tripping hurts, failure hurts, face plants and decking really hurt as my friend Jenny encountered last week, but there’s always a rebound, a high to match the low, a path to take, a hand up, and another hurdle to cross. So while I am naturally disappointed about this first defeat, the race is far from over, and I am recharged and ready to clear the next hurdle.