I try to create content every day that “matters.”  But does it?  When I see channels on Youtube featuring vases that sell for one dollar, and they get a million views, I really wonder how do I compete with that???  But I guess I’m not competing with that. Never can and never will.  

So what matters?  It’s very different for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a haul from IKEA. They are very good at what they do.  I, too, have wandered through the maze and been lured by a golden garbage can, or a one dollar candle. And better than anyone, they can fill a house — but how do I fill my soul?

I am the curator of my soul. I search through the alphabet and gather the letters to form the words that make the sentences that create the stories that fill my brain that leak out my ears and turn the corners of my mouth. I spread the colors that join my brushes that collide with the canvas to form the shapes that become my heart’s familiars and beat with pure joy. I search the scrap pile for pieces of wood that get cut into lengths that get nailed into angles that gather in the painted words and painted figures and hold them with a bold strength and a comforting smell that only cut wood can carry. 

It takes a long time to build a soul. And I guess that’s what I’m making, aren’t I?  What I’m building — a soul.  So does it matter.  To me it does. Will it get a million views?  I doubt it. Will it save me, more than a million times?  Oh, yes. I think it already has.  

Once you know your vision, your core, your strengths, your special gift — the only thing left to do is live it. Success can come in every degree, but remember, the work itself — whatever it is: the writing, the painting, the dancing, the living of your uniquely gifted being — can give you everything.

You know best for you. You know what will fulfill you. You set the bar for yourself.

Others’ successes do not hurt you. Be happy for them. Others’ failures do not lift you. They may not even feel they’ve failed. They get to decide that for themselves.

Find joy in the doing. The being. You decide who you are. And the definition is decided by you. A writer writes. A painter paints. You are not defined by awards or titles, or even “likes.”  You are defined by you. Enjoy that. Every day!