Finish the song you started to write, do what you are called to do and put fear aside. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is about living without fear. This book can relate to various people from someone who wants to be an actor, singer, football player, skater, or a blogger. Someone whom I would recommend this book to is my friend James. James wants to be a blogger and has been blogging for almost a year. He is afraid the public isn’t accepting his work, and is losing confidence. The book, “Big Magic” Elizabeth Gilbert offers many self-empowering quotations that would help my friend James in his journey to carry out his dreams.
Bloggers face several problems and one of them is having a lack of confidence. This quote, “creativity is the path for the brave, yes, but it is not a path for the fearless”, (page 22, Big Magic by Gilbert) helps readers like James realize that you don’t want to be fearless, you need fear, if you don’t have it, you’re insane. When you’re trying to pursue something new, like blogging, you’ll have fear everyone does. Accepting fear will not hurt you it’ll help you grow as a creative person. Knowing your fears and accepting them can help you fix your problem. For example, if you get nervous to post a blog article, let your family or friends read it first. Once you notice they enjoyed, and understood it you’ll get the confidence to post it online. Welcome fear into your creative life, open the door to it, accept it, and stop saying “what if”, instead challenge it, but don’t let it control you and stop you from doing what you love.
Another challenge is that bloggers search for perfection, “it starts by forgetting about perfect”.(page 166, Big Magic by Gilbert) This quote tells creative people to stop trying to find perfection.When you want to start your own blog you get into this mindset that you want everything perfect, perfectionism doesn’t exist. Anything is in need of improvement. Stop looking for perfection, make something authentic. You can’t want everything you produce to be perfect. Begin your creative work even if it has flaws, release it to the world, it might be a hot mess, but it’s your particular mess. It’s better to be a “discipline half-ass” like Elizabeth. Do what you can do, produce something, unleash it, see how others receive it, and adjust as you go.
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A problem a blogger has is that their job is time-consuming. This quote, “because if you love and want something enough, whatever it is, then you don’t really mind eating the shit sandwich that comes with it” (page 150, Big Magic by Gilbert) reminds people that no matter what they do they’ll always be a downside but if you’re willing to sacrifice for it you’ll know you chose correctly. We have limited time in this world, choose the sandwich you’ll enjoy eating the most, with no regrets. For many bloggers, their shit sandwich is not being able to shut off work because they’re their own boss, their clients are the public. They tend to isolate themselves from everyone and it can be dangerous once that happens. So take a break and catch up with family and friends.
Bloggers write to entertain others and give their opinion. A problem all bloggers get is, not having new ideas. If as a blogger you post something that wasn’t your best work don’t stress about it so much. This fifth quote is an example of letting mistakes go, “If you made something and it didn’t work out, let it go”. (page 251, Big Magic By Gilbert) Creative people are constantly working to improve themselves in order to maintain relevance and self-growth. Society sets high expectations for them, and when their improvement doesn’t fit the standard expectation, their growth field is stunted. Everyone always says there’s no one to blame but yourself when something doesn’t work out. Blaming yourself can be overwhelming, let it go, it already happened, put it in the past. Pleasing people is not your responsibility.
Not getting enough viewers for bloggers can be frustrating. Gilbert’s quote, Frustration is not an interruption of your process; frustration is the process” ( page , Big Magic by Gilbert) says that if you’re frustrated don’t stop. Starting a blog and not getting the number of views you want can be frustrating but instead of worrying think about how to attract viewers. Another way you can boost your views is by promoting on social media, get in touch with other bloggers this can help both of you gain more visitors on your blog. Every process is frustrating in the beginning the important thing is to stay focused and not give up.
Losing motivation happens to most bloggers. Sometimes they decide they’ve had enough and it’s time to do other creative work. The next quote is, “ curiosity is available to everyone”, (Elizabeth Gilbert 101 Life lesson To Help You Find Magic In Your Life) James is unsure if blogging is really what he wants, he’s lost motivation. He followed his curiosity for a bit and feels like he should leave it. The stakes are low in curiosity. If you follow your curiosity and realize it isn’t what you want, you can leave it and move on. Curiosity won’t ruin your life if you follow it for a moment. Be curious, follow it for a bit because it might lead you to your passion.
Blogging has become a trend that some people do it with no purpose, that can become a problem. The fifth quote, “Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it’s what you want before you commit.” (Elizabeth Gilbert 101 Life lesson To Help You Find Magic In Your Life, #35) means that before you start a task you should always be mentally and physically ready. Commit to whatever you’re doing from the beginning, make it your goal to finish what you started. If you’re not committed, don’t do it. For instance, you want to become a blogger, and have your own site because it’s your dream, but if you don’t have a your purpose for blogging then you need to figure it out. You need to know what audience you want to gravitate towards, if not you’ll end up losing the interest of your viewers. If you’re uncertain and still do it, you’ll end up regretting it and giving up along the way. Know what you’re up against from the beginning so you won’t have any surprises in the future.
Having too much competition can become an issue for a blogger but that shouldn’t stop you. This quote, “You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day.”. (Elizabeth Gilbert 101 Life lesson To Help You Find Magic In Your Life, #39) allows reader the like James to remember that when you select your outfits you always pick the best one, the one that stands out the most. Your thoughts should be selected the same way, pick the one that you like best, the one that stands out most, the one you think will become a great form of creativity. Let your thoughts be the magic of your writing, your thoughts are different from other competition, choose wisely and flaunt it confidently through your creative work.
Most get discouraged to post on their blog because of the judgments and harsh comments they get from their readers. In this quote“Your own reasons to create are reasons enough”(Elizabeth Gilbert 101 Life lesson To Help You Find Magic In Your Life, #60) will help bloggers know that they need to block any negative comments. Everyone has a different way of thinking, those who thought your blog post wasn’t great may be a low percentage compared to the positive comments you got. Always look at the positive things in creativity, you don’t write for others, you do it because you enjoy it, and if blogging makes you happy then that’s a good enough reason to keep doing it. Don’t let what others think stop you.
All these self-empowering quotes by Elizabeth Gilbert could help James can help him have confidence in his creative work and motivate him to keep blogging. The book “ Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert” is beneficial to read because it leads creative people in the right direction with all the examples she sets for the readers.
