Why I hate the "f" word. Not the one you're thinking. (daily video)

The "f" word is not your friend. (No, no that one.)

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT

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Welcome back creatives. Ruthanne Reid, author and stroke survivor here to help you get out of block and into a daily habit of creation. Today we're talking about a word that I don't like to use and I will explain why. It is the f word failure. The way English works is we tend to think of something that is a failure as a permanently failed thing. So a sule that fell has failed. It cannot be reinflated. An engine that has failed really can't be repaired. It's scrap. To be a failure is a permanent state. That's why I don't like to use that word for most of our art because, you know, things can fail. You can have a novel blow up and you really don't know how to fix it. You you can have a sule fall and that feels pretty bad, but it doesn't mean that you're a failure as a chef. It means this sule failed. You need to try again. That's all creative. This is really important. That novel you didn't finish, the contest you lost, the I don't know, you dropped out of college, whatever it was artistically that feels like you failed did not make you a failure because you are not in a permanent state of failure. You can try again. You can go to a different school. You can enter a different contest. You can write a new thing. You can draw a new thing. You at no point are a permanent failure. Not as long as you're alive. Too many of us use this word like a club and we hit ourselves with it all the time. I failed. I'm a failure. I blew it. I just I can't make it. The thing doesn't work. It never works. I never finish anything. Stop. Stop. Breathe. You are not a failure. You are alive. You actually have the opportunity to move forward or change direction or do whatever you want to do because you're not in a permanent failed state. Understanding this is crucial because why would you move forward if you don't think that you can? You are not a failure. I don't care what blew up in your life, creative. As long as you are still here, you can keep moving forward. Make changes. Adjust. That means you're not a failure. It is not a permanent state. Sit down with me and with courage together, let's make something new.

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