What makes a writer a writer? Or a Flight Attendant a Flight Attendant? I don’t think it’s the pen and paper, or the wings and beverage cart. I think it’s the passion that comes from within. Passion to do whatever you want, and not let fear hop into the jump seat, with a pen in hand, ready to take notes.
I recently got an email that offered advice on my blog and writing abilities from a fellow writer. While helpful and honest, some of it stung like hell, and for a moment, I actually doubted myself and my passion for writing. It stated that I am “a ways away from publication.” I’m clear that if every author of our time listened to that advice, Barnes N Noble would merely be a vendor on the side of the road, and the New York Times Best Seller list would no longer be a list, but a one title statement.
We all get criticism for everything we do in life. Whether it’s what we wear, or how our hair looks. How often we fall in love and with whom. Our career choices or lack thereof. Or even who we pray to and why. But, i've come to realize that none of that matters and none of it is even real.
If you and I were both looking at a sunset, we can both agree that what is real is that the sun is setting. That is truth. But, I can look at that sunset and say, “That is a fiery ball of death”, and you can look at the sunset and say, “That is a beautiful ray of hope”. What’s real is that the sun is setting; everything else is just our interpretation of what’s real. The sun can choose to look at it, but the passion behind its setting will never change.
What’s real is I am a writer. What’s real is I am a Flight Attendant. And I now know, everything else is just someone’s interpretation of my reality.
So, I challenge you all to find out what’s real about you. What’s your passion that fuels your reality? And whose interpretations have you been accepting as reality?
