As much as I'd like to believe all my ideas are beyond brilliant, the truth is creativity is subjective and can be very much in the eyes of the beholder. I know that not all of my ideas are going to find success. But at the same time I still believe in them. I still think they have potential. There could be lots of reasons why something doesn't work out. It could just be timing, there could be financial considerations behind a decision... and it could be honestly that my idea just wasn't strong enough to make it all the way. It happens. It happens to the best and brightest of inventors and idea makers.
Some of the world's greatest have been met with rejection but that didn't stop them. Sigmond Freud was booed during a speech where he presented his ideas and still continued writing anyway. Thomas Edison's teacher labeled him "too stupid to learn anything," and he went on to invent the light bulb - even after he failed over 1,000 times with his original attempts. His most powerful quote "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."
And I'm viewing my rejected ideas in a totally different light. I didn't fail. Wayne Dyer, in fact suggested that "Failing is a judgment that we humans place on a given action. Rather than judgment, substitute this attitude: You cannot fail, you can only produce results." Wayne Dyer himself faced rejection trying to get his first book published and later went on to publish over 40 books with 21 of them hitting the New York Best Seller List.
*Note to self- don't abandon your hopes of publication, if Dyer can do it, so can you!*
I happen to believe that I have a lot to offer the special needs community - and that can look like a lot of different things - and it does. I juggle a lot behind the scenes most of which people don't even know I do because I go about it silently, quietly and often as anonymously as I can because my soul doesn't crave recognition or a spotlight of gratitude for all that I do. And I still believe in all my ideas even the ones that are rejected. Maybe I need to fine tune them, maybe the timing isn't right... maybe those ideas will be born some other time. Or maybe they'll never happen and I'll come up with something even bigger and better in its place.
But the main reason I still keep hatching ideas, even if my ideas are rejected is because I know that the potential is there for something great. And I can continue to challenge myself to inspire, create, and grow new ideas, that someday I may get the chance of making even a bigger difference for the special needs community. Dare to dream even if those dreams don't always become a reality. Keep doing it anyway...
So, some of my most popular ideas and the ones I really loved too, didn't make the cut. I can still post the Camp n'Go and the Silverdale Saddle up on my wall and say that was my idea and I am proud of the effort. I know I'm still a winner because I tried. And Hatching ideas happens to be a lot of fun. Don't be afraid to try. You just never know your idea could be the one that makes it.
Love,
Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.