Day 25: Most Ordinary

Challenge: We are our most potent at our most ordinary. And yet most of us discount our “ordinary” because it is, well, ordinary. Or so we believe. But my ordinary is not yours. Three things block us from putting down our clever and picking up our ordinary: false comparisons with others (I’m not as good a writer as _____), false expectations of ourselves (I should be on the NYTimes best seller list or not write at all), and false investments in a story (it’s all been written before, I shouldn’t bother). What are your false comparisons? What are your false expectations? What are your false investments in a story? List them. Each keep you from that internal knowing about which Emerson writes. Each keeps you from making your strong offer to the world. Put down your clever, and pick up your ordinary.

I think the majority of my falsities come from growing up around famous artists. I'm obviously not as good as they are, they were full-blown professionals at my age, and if I can't be that, then why try?

I started out the year with a little poem about just how ordinary I felt, and I was determined to work towards extraordinary. That still holds, but I think my definitions have changed. As long as my ordinary is creating as much as I can and working towards whatever my version of extraordinary is, I'm good with that. I've lived with my comparisons my whole life, and that's gotten me nowhere. There's always going to be someone better. The best competition is working to better yourself.