It’s not uncommon to freeze up when life throws you a curveball. You had everything all figured out in your head, but things just took a different turn and now you’re so scarred you’d prefer not to even attempt anything else just to save face. But that’s not going to cut it!

Here are some harsh realizations we all need to understand and accept to further ourselves in our endeavors.

You Will Stumble & Fall

Unless you’re walking around in one of those giant plastic bubbles, there’s no way to avoid life’s bumps and bruises. You didn’t get the job, or you did get the job but it wasn’t exactly what you expected it to be. Or maybe you jumped into signing the lease to your apartment too soon and now finances are tight. Sometimes these kinds of things happen and while your confidence, pride, and desire to seek out new opportunities may take a hit, you can’t let those temporary downfalls stop you from trying something new or rolling with the situation you’re currently in. Take your time to be upset about it, but know you have to move along.

Things Won’t Always Work out How You Planned

As young people, we’ve been conditioned to think of our lives in these well thought out time frames that just aren’t as fluid and unpredictable as our day-to-days really are. Yes, it’s good to have an idea of when you’d like to be settled into your career or when you think you’d like to get married, but oftentimes we restrict ourselves and end up disappointed because those goals are not met. Your dreams and aspirations are beautiful and valid, but are they realistic? How are you planning for them? What’s your backup plan should the original strategy fail?

Even Baby Steps Will Go Far

The old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in one day” isn’t just some crusty history tidbit you remember your professor droning in class one day—it’s the truth! Again, those strict time frames we put on ourselves are more harmful than helpful. Every little thing you do to help build your image or your work in general will shape you into exactly who or what you want to be. It’s OK that your YouTube videos were shot on your poor quality laptop webcam. Use what you have and create your content no matter what. So what if you have a folder on your desktops filled with unpublished pieces? Keep writing and build your portfolio up so when someone does want to read your work, you have plenty of material to share. Instant gratification is great, but the journey and steady transformation is worth the wait.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Look, feeling awful about yourself and your work because it isn’t getting the attention others’ work is getting, or pining over the fame and fortune and fans is never good for an artist’s self-esteem. Your work is carefully-crafted and truly is worthy of all that good stuff. However, you should never look at others with jealousy or even beat yourself up because your work doesn’t look as good as someone else’s. Take your time, stick to your craft, and build yourself up.

Life can be unpredictable and scary; our actions can be responsible for the things that happen (or don’t) and that can freak us out a bit. Don’t let your fear of the unknown and unplanned prevent you from putting your work out there or taking chances. Once you assure yourself that you have your own back, life’s curveballs may not hurt as much when they whack you on the head.

MADE by Kim Jackson