Do You Ever Feel Like a Failure?

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. A day to reflect on things in which to be thankful. I have many reasons for my gratitude. But if I’m honest, there are moments of the opposite. When the grandeur things in life seem invincible and all that’s left is boxes of unsold books in my closet.

I usually don’t dwell on the fact that my books are not topping the charts, that my blogs are not changing the world, that my name isn’t plastered all over social media. My posts are simply to encourage myself to keep on going.

Today my mom sent me a message. Out of the blue.

It was a video about how a man used his childhood trauma to now become a household name. It told of grief, heartache, poverty, crime and rejection. Countless rejection letters. He vowed to never write again. His wife begged him to send his finished novel again to publishers.

It’s reported he was rejected 30 times for this book that has now been read millions of times and turned into plays and movies. If he hadn’t listened to his wife, we would not have “Carrie” or the other works by Stephen King.

I’ve heard this story before and started looking through other now famous published authors and their rejection list.

Chicken Soup for the Soul – 144 rejections

The Help – 60 rejections

James Patterson first book – 31 rejections

A Time to Kill – 28 rejections

A Wrinkle in Time – 26 rejections

Dune – 23 rejections

Catch-22 – 22 rejections

Lord of the Flies – 21 rejections

If you’re feeling deflated about yourself, wondering when your next break, next job, next relationship, next move is going to happen…now is not the time to quit.

What if they quit after 20 rejections? We wouldn’t have any of these books or movies. (Yeah they must not have been too bad because many of these became mega Hollywood hits.)

So, if you’re feeling like a failure…it’s okay. Everyone is a failure before they succeed.

But you can’t succeed if you don’t ever try.

So this Thanksgiving wrap your failures in a bear hug, smother your fallen stars with kisses, embrace the heartache of yesterdays. Who knows, you may be the next Stephen King to encourage the next generation of crash-and-burn dreamers.

You can either wallow in the ashes or rise from them.

Let’s rise.

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless!

Peace