That’s tough. To be totally honest with you I have been dealing with negativity in one way or another my whole life. Now I find myself avoiding it as much as possible. I guess you need to ask yourself what you are actually getting out of it? What do you get from being negative? What do you get from chasing to be around negative people or situations or feelings? Usually we are engaged in something because there is a reciprocal relationship happening with that thing. I think once you understand that you can start to be less reactive or less habituated toward negativity. For me negativity was a way of dealing with fears. I still struggle with it today. I think in life sometimes the best thing we can do is to just accept things like negativity as just something that is part of our character and then begin to find ways of managing it. Management is the key to finding serenity i think.
At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.
At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.
At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.
At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school.
At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a suicidal single parent living on welfare.
At age 28, Wayne Coyne ( from The Flaming Lips) was a fry cook.
At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.
At age 30, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker.
At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs.
Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39, and got her own cooking show at age 51.
Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.
Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40.
Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career to pursue acting at age 42.
Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first movie role until he was 46.
Morgan Freeman landed his first movie role at age 52.
Kathryn Bigelow only reached international success when she made The Hurt Locker at age 57.
Grandma Moses didn’t begin her painting career until age 76.
Louise Bourgeois didn’t become a famous artist until she was 78.
Whatever your dream is, it is not too late to achieve it. You aren’t a failure because you haven’t found fame and fortune by the age of 21. Hell, it’s okay if you don’t even know what your dream is yet. Even if you’re flipping burgers, waiting tables or answering phones today, you never know where you’ll end up tomorrow.
Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it.
Never tell yourself you missed your chance.
Never tell yourself that you aren’t good enough.
You can do it. Whatever it is.
And for the cartoon lovers:
Carl Barks started at Disney at age 34 and his first Donald Duck comic didn’t appear until he was 42. He wasn’t hailed as the greatest Disney comic artist Ever until well into his 50’s.I am 42 years old and I definitely feel my finest work is still ahead of me.
It’s not a competition. Keep going. That one thing, that one effort, one lucky break, one email from someone who saw your work, one fresh start, one change of mind or circumstances that alters your whole life for the better could come at any time.
Keep going.
If you are scrolling through Tumblr trying to distract yourself from something you don’t want to think about, or you’re looking for a sign. It is going to be okay. Just breathe. You are alive and you matter.
I needed this yesterday
what really scares me is that i’m average i’m not really good at anything or really beautiful i’m going to live an average life with an average job an average income and die an average death with an average funeral and nobody is going to remember me
Van Gogh thought that too
That was so appropriate and needed.
