When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, or completing a multitude of tasks or facing an unknown, difficult situation . . .
a sick sense of failure falls on me.
Me: (What a daunting task!
Can I ever get it done?
I fear not . . .)
I know I can never do it.
This happens every time.
Me: (Every single time.
Never fails but the haunting fear of failing hovers
like a bird of prey . . .
taunting,
teasing,
assuring me I’ll never get it done!)
Then, gradually, I write one page . . . do one task at a time . . . or reach out for encouragement . . .
Take another step. And another.
One day’s work is all I can permit myself to contemplate,
and I eliminate the possibility of never finishing.
Me: (Smile)

–John Steinbeck


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