In the summer of 2018, the performance of my writing on Medium had trended down for a year straight. Views were down. New followers were down. Income was down. Even my ideas were down. I struggled to come up with good essays that I was fully convinced in writing. Anyone saying coming off a huge high into a long trough won’t affect you has probably experienced neither.
It felt like I had written myself into a hole, and back then, I was still naive enough to think, “Well, if writing got me into this, maybe writing can get me out of it, too!” As it turned out, I was right. Eventually, the ideas came back, and so did the views, the followers, and the income.
In later years, I’ve often done the opposite. Abandoned one path to find a new one. That, too, is necessary on occasion, but sometimes I wish for my naivete back. I wish I could be more stubborn, like I used to be, and just keep pushing forward—because what I’ve realized is that, back then on Medium as in many cases hence, I did not write myself into a hole at all. The hole was always going to come, no matter what I had been doing, because that’s just life: bad times come, bad times go.
When you end up in a hole, it’s easy to think it’s your actions that got you there. But especially if you still believe in those actions, there’s no reason to abandon them. Humans make mistakes. That’s what we do. If a course of action is near and dear to you, chances are, it’s not one of them.
Whether it’s your art, your parenting, or your business: As long as you care and work and cherish it, there’s no reason to stop. The dark forest you find yourself in will eventually be replaced by a sunny beach one way or another. The only question is: In the meantime, will you be doing what you have faith in, or will you grasp for straws in hopes of climbing a little bit faster?
Trust the process. Whatever has gotten you here, chances are, it can probably get you “there” as well.