Forget Yesterday, Today Is What We Have

Do you tend to dwell on the negatives in life long after they are history? It becomes a habit, a really bad habit. If you received two rejections and no acceptances last week, do you stew over it day after day? If you received a scathing critique from someone in your group, does it haunt you day after day until you're ready to scream? Well, just cut it out! It's done! 

Today's quote has some wise words. Every day is a new day--a place to start over again. If yesterday was a crummy day, so be it, but now you have a chance to make today a good day. Work on an unfinished writing project. Tackle that problem chapter in your almost-finished novel. Start a new story. 

I might add one caveat. Don't throw out all that happened before today. We've said many times that when those negatives happen, we can learn something. Actually, we should learn from the not-so-hot things that occur in our writing life. The important thing is to find the lesson, apply it and move on to a new day and a fresh start.

These lessons in our writing world often work in the rest of our life. Ever have an argument with your spouse/partner and go to bed still seething inside? When you wake up the next morning, be the bigger person and tell the other one that it's a new day and time to start over. Leave the grudge behind. 

In our writing life, we wake up each morning with the ability to start fresh. If the essay you worked on yesterday was nothing but one headache after another, toss it and start over. It might work better on this new day. If it doesn't, you know you made the effort and it's time to move on to a new project. 

When I get up each morning, I look outside to see if it's raining or snowing or the birds are singing to herald a lovely day and I make a mental list of what I'd like to accomplish in these next waking hours. I don't always get everything on my list done but that's OK. Tomorrow will be another day when I am given a new beginning. I won't rue the things I didn't do the day before because I can't change what happened yesterday. Today is what I have and I try to use it as best I can.