Nobody told me that publishing a book would take this long...
100 Things #033 - Be Patient
…and honestly, I’m okay with it!
Now, don’t get me wrong—I wasn’t completely in the dark. I had done my research and was well aware of just how long the writing portion of the task at hand would be.
Writing 99 poems (well, a few more than that if you count the ones that got cut along the way) did take some time. I budgeted for that.
Some came easily, and some were a bit heavier of a lift (there really are some words that just do not want to be rhymed).
What I didn’t see coming were the number of hoops that had to be jumped through to actually get a book available for order, and more specifically, just how many administrative delays are involved in jumping through those hoops.
Hoops, hoops, hoops…
Anywhere from a few hours to 2-10 (!!!) business days just to see certain results like a link going live or a page being accessible to the public. At a certain point, it begins to feel a little excessive.
Between this, shipping delays, collaborative back-and-forths, and the number of other elements that could stall one’s progress, it really is a wonder that so many books get published every day.
Do I believe it will get easier the second time? Absolutely.
But will there still be patience involved then too? Of course.
It goes without saying, but things like this take time. Zooming out from just book writing for a second, large-scale projects simply do not come easy. That fact ranges across all mediums and throughout any number of aspects of one’s life.
Practicing Patience
Learning how to cook takes time, healing takes time, raising a child takes time. Some of these things I have more experience with than others, that’s for sure, and most things get easier with practice, but the amount of patience that’s required is something I see as a constant.
Whether that patience is spread thin across a number of years as you develop a project from start to finish, or your patience is tested all at once in one fell swoop, what’s being asked of you hardly changes—you have to apply yourself and make space.
Making space can look like being adaptable, it can look like allowing yourself to have negative feelings and being comfortable with processing them when you have the capacity to do so.
It can also look like forgiving yourself for not always knowing the best course of action, or knowing how to approach the situation but not necessarily being able to put that knowledge into action.
Of course, the fundamental principles of patience require one to also have a strong sense of understanding and forgiveness, which are other topics that we’ve discussed before on 100 Things.
It is my hope that the further we get into this series, the more interconnected these concepts will become, and the more familiar some of this terminology will seem.
My goal is to continue to draw a picture of what exactly a person who puts elements from these 100 Things into practice might look like and act like in their day-to-day, as a sort of mental model of what basic principles in life are worth striving for. I also just want to say thank you again to everyone who has stuck around for this journey so far and for those who are looking forward to seeing what comes next for 100 Things.
Your support means a ton, truly.
I’ll leave you here with a few journaling prompts for those who want to do a bit of guided thinking around this topic:
Describe a time when you had to exercise patience for a large-scale project or task. What were the challenges you faced, and how did you cope with the delays and obstacles?
How do you make space for growth and adaptability in your life? Reflect on a situation where you had to be flexible and open to change. What was the outcome, and how did it impact your personal development?
Reflect on how you handle negative feelings when facing delays or setbacks. What methods do you use to process these emotions, and how do you create space for them in your life?
Also, as a special note for those of you using the Substack app/site, I’m thinking of incorporating an audio element to posts moving forward. Let me know if that’s something that any one of you would be interested in! Very curious to continue to play around with the platform!
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For now, have a great rest of the week. Talk soon!