“ You are turning into another Virginia Woolf he said and I internalized his statement.

I sighed realizing it wasn’t necessarily a compliment.

I have been writing religiously now for over two years. Deep down I know my friend’s comment was meant to inspire and praise and yet my thoughts that day went somewhere else and I was insulted.

You might ask how does being compared to Virginia Woolf insult a female writer? Well,  I won’t insult Virginia because I hold her in high regard.

The inner critic and unhelpful thoughts that I had  really had nothing to do with sweet Virginia. The truth is it was more about my own inadequacy and short comings.

Creatives are often sensitive to feedback and compliments may feel like an attack.

Every creative has inner demons to battle every day. Some call this a “curse” others “blessings”. It really all depends on how you rise above and face these demons and how one creates regardless of the struggles.

The curse is we are only truly  happy when in the process of creating and completion causes some grief. We judge ourselves the hardest and often struggle to let things go. This is an oxymoron I know. Creatives and writers are strange artists. We need to work in isolation yet need to be inspired by the world. We can begin a project several times and in the end we may end up abandoning our  work feeling it isn’t good enough for the world.

How does one rise above you might ask?
All you writers who are reading this and all creatives and lovers of words get ready for some straight up truth!

To get past your own ego and self  sabotage one needs to be honest.

We need to face the shadows and walk in and out between the light and dark. We need to take a good look at ourselves and face our own fears.
This fear, our greatest fear is rejection and possibly even finishing that great piece we fear finishing. Writing is giving birth a million times over and dying to self over and over.

The whole process is cathartic and exhausting as well as soul wrenching.

The blessing is a gift and a curse. It is a double edged sword at times yet, learning to use our gifts  we come into our light and write our truth.

Coming to the end of this piece I leave you with a Virginia Woolf quote” books are the mirrors of souls”. Thus, all of our heart and soul goes into writing. This is how we rise. This is how we write.