Well, I have bronchitis from Covid, my third week of having this damn bug. I am not particularly happy about the situation, but I am trying to see the bigger picture. I am better, just not BETTER.

Some would say Covid is the bigger picture, but it’s not. The bigger picture is who I am and what I do and what I want out of life. Covid is a bump in the road.

So I write. . . daily. I put on my music, light my candle, fix my tea, and I sit down to work. Sure, I could tell myself I should be lying down, but is that the truth? I’m still resting seated in a chair at my keyboard.

I can’t quite go to the gym. I went two weeks ago and crashed. I went last week and crashed. Next week I’ll try again. But for now, I do gentler Tai Chi exercises. The less you move, the worse you feel. I don’t want to return to the gym and can hardly move.

What’s the point? The point is you do not let one obstacle stop you. In the gym we have what we call modifications if someone cannot do the full range of a particular exercise. There is no shame in modification. In truth, the fact you are there and still working out is the bigger, more important picture.

When it comes to writing, we get rejected, we hate AI, we tire of the novel we’re writing, we can’t seem to get successful at this thing we seem to love. Those little picture items don’t have to stop you from the bigger picture. Show up. Write. Submit. Study. Read. Enjoy the process. The bigger picture is you love what you do. You’ll do it whether a little bit or a lot, but you cannot imagine NOT doing it.

Don’t mistake a little picture item as anything strong enough to stop you from living your life.