What if it gets to be easy?
A funny thing happened on the way home from Greece.
I caught myself telling a story that doesn’t serve me.
You might remember that I came home from Greece with an idea for a new book. One I hadn't anticipated, but that I was suddenly wildly excited about writing.
Well, here's the thing.
This book is coming together so easily, it’s freaking me out.
The idea came out of nowhere. Along with the hook. And the title.
That never happens. To me, anyway.
I mean, I didn’t even name my own children – that’s how much I struggle with labels. I’m still searching for the perfect hook for Again, Only More Like You, and don’t even get me started on the title of my second novel. I’ve been working on that book for five years, and still don’t have the right title for it.
But this next story? It practically arrived fully formed. Hook, title and sinker. I even wrote almost 6,000 words for it in just over a week, without even trying!
Which is wonderful, right?
Except here’s what I caught myself thinking:
This is too easy.
This book must be terrible.
Because surely anything worth creating should be harder.
Then I stopped.
Wait a minute. Who says it has to be hard?
That’s when I realized I’d been carrying around a story I didn’t even know I believed.
That good things require struggle.
That success demands sacrifice.
That if something comes easily, it must somehow be less valuable.
And perhaps even worse, that I have to work myself to the bone to deserve the things I want.
But that’s just a story.
One I’ve been telling myself for so long, I’ve mistaken it for the truth.
Sure, we all know the stories about the forty-year overnight success. The people who worked tirelessly, faced rejection after rejection, and finally got their big break.
I’ve shared plenty of those stories myself.
But there are other stories, too.
Stories about people who just happened to meet exactly the right person at exactly the right time.
Who found the perfect agent on their first try.
Who created something extraordinary without having to suffer for it.
Those stories exist, too.
So why have I been so attached to the idea that my own journey has to be so difficult or painful?
Maybe good things can be easy.
Maybe success doesn’t always have to come at the expense of our peace, our health or our happiness.
And maybe, just maybe, I can stop making things harder than they need to be.
Now, I'm not suggesting that writing a book – or building a business, or pursuing a dream – doesn’t require work.
Of course it does.
And I'm certainly not suggesting that this new book won't challenge me somewhere along the way. (Case in point, last weekend, when I completely hit a wall. Thankfully, I’m already over it 😅)
But there's a difference between doing the work and believing you have to struggle.
And I’m beginning to wonder how much of the struggle I’ve experienced over the years has come from the work itself – and how much has come from the stories I’ve been telling myself about what it takes to succeed.
Because here’s the really cool thing about catching yourself in one of those stories.
You get to write a new one.
Cat xo
PS: What stories have you been telling yourself about what it takes to get what you want? I’d love to know.