Good News

I woke up this morning feeling uneasy. It took a few minutes to figure out why. And then I remembered. I'd broken my long-standing news fast. On Friday, I checked into a hotel to work on my new book proposal. This hotel had two perks I don't get at home: a daily newspaper and cable television. On Saturday night, after a day and a half of work, my daughter joined me for a night of girl time. While she watched The Disney Channel, I read the paper. Bad idea.

After all that news, the words in my head this morning were not the usual hopeful ones. Instead of thinking about my morning writing work, I was recalling dire predictions. As I drove my daughter to school and lifted weights at the YMCA, my brain kept remembering phrases like:

• dismal possibilities
• difficult publishing landscape 
  
• staggering losses
• lowest since ...
• worst in 34 years ...

Before long, I was beginning to think, "Well, why bother?" Why bother writing a book, why bother building a business, why bother doing ANYTHING when the economic climate is so tough?

I'm not going to tell you that the economic climate is peachy. It isn't. It's a mess. Not an unfixable mess, but a mess.

But I am going to answer the question, "Why bother?"

Why bother?  Because the world needs you now more than ever. In difficult economic times, the world needs you to speak your hopeful words, write your books, play your music, make art, bake bread, and work on that business dream. 

The world needs some good news. Why shouldn't it come from you???

I'm creating my own antidote to the daily dose of bad news. On Sunday morning, my daughter and I each wrote down five things we were grateful for about each other. You can see her drawing above. The practice helped us both to feel better. So now I am expanding it. Every night I write in my journal three pieces of good news—ideas, people, places, or events that brought me hope that day. 

I'll let you know how that goes. But right now, I need to get back to working on my book. After all, the world needs more good news! :-) 

In the meantime, check out the movie Seabiscuit. The movie was a great reminder that the situation does not have to be perfect (the economy, our health, our age, or experience) in order to achieve success.