About fifteen years ago, I was really interested in writing. I had joined a few online communities and wrote short stories regularly. I took classes, I even wrote classes. I started multiple novels. I worked on this dream for a few years, relatively consistently.

I didn’t really get better.

And eventually I just walked away from it.

I don’t remember making the conscious decision (though I must have somewhere along the line.) And I did have a few isolated instances in the last ten years where I tried to get back into it. But it never stuck. I walked away before I even gave it a shot.

Back when I was doing it regularly, there was a girl in my group that was writing very actively. She had already been writing daily for a long time but she was persistent. She submitted to magazines, went to writer’s conferences, wrote, wrote, and wrote, and edited and then wrote more. Over the years, I’d go back to visit and be amazed to see that she was still there, still writing.

And last year, she published her first novel.

I cannot tell you how happy I am for her. I’ve always wanted to see her name in print. Always. Because I was always so amazed at how persistently she tried. How she just never gave up. How this was clearly something she was determined to do. How she obviously loved writing. She didn’t just write. She did the editing, the critiquing, the submitting, the proposals. All the hard work, the boring work, and everything in between.

And she stuck with it.

She stuck with it for years and years. Long after all others gave up. It takes a lot to stick with something for over fifteen years. To just keep trying and trying and trying. That’s something most people don’t seem to appreciate, in my opinion. When we look at others’ success, we often don’t realize the exorbitant amount of work it took to get there. The sheer volume of output, effort, and time.

Sure, there are exceptions. But, they are few and far between compared to those who just do it with a lot of hard work and sweat. I’ve experienced the value of “sticking with it” first hand. I know that when you try and try and try, you do get better. More importantly, you get more comfortable with it.

It’s like a new pair of shoes. When you first get them, they are so pretty but so so uncomfortable. You have to wear them again and again before they get to that wonderful place of feeling like they were made for your feet. It takes time and perseverance to mold them. I think the same thing applies to art forms. To writing, drawing, scrapbooking, photography, or whatever else you’re trying to learn to do.

You have to stick with it.

Long after you want to give up. Long after everyone else thinks you should give up. Past that feeling of “I might never get this right.” And the “I have no idea why I keep trying.” You just do it. You stick with it. And eventually it clicks. And then it’s fun. And then you want to stick with it. Now it’s not even so much about the goal anymore. (maybe a little bit still but nothing like the beginning.) It’s become your norm. What you do. No one is even questioning it anymore because it’s what you do.

and then…

That’s when the good stuff happens.

When you’ve stopped caring about the end and started enjoying the journey. When those new, beautiful shoes are feeling like slippers made specifically for you. So much so that you don’t even notice you’re wearing them anymore.

That’s when the rewards come in. And, sometimes, they’re not even as sweet as they would have been in the beginning because, by this point, you’ve realized that you already got the bigger reward: the internal joy and satisfaction that comes from spending time doing something you love.

And then you’ve won.

All because you stuck with it.