One-uppers.
I’m sure you’ve met one in your life. You probably have an acquaintance at work, or at school, or in your family and right about now, you’re probably not missing them. Not at all.
One of my biggest pet peeves.
You’re in mid-conversation talking about how you just ran your first 5k and they be telling you they just ran the marathon for the seventh year in a row. You’re on the phone retelling the epic saga of a day you had on account of work, a small pay check and a parking ticket, to which they respond without blinking how they just had an even worse day followed by a parking ticket and a moving violation. You sit there talking about this trip you just went on to the beach, they talk about a yacht the rented for the weekend but all you can think about is why he or she didn’t go off with Gilligan on that three-hour tour … that three-hour tour.
Whether it’s good or bad news, there’s is always more of something. More intense. More happy. More. Just more. And they burn me out. Being a writer. it’s is always a struggle between what I was programmed to believe to what is actually possible. And one-uppers do not help the creative recovery process, if anything they make the climb up that mountain even more painstakingly difficult by adding rocks … boulders to your bag.
I’m in mid-project, well more the early middle stages, and I’ve been chipping away at it bit, by bit, with what I could do. I got a temporary side hustle for a minute there in order to raise some extra money for my project. Doing what I can to get closer. Research. Writing. More research. Calling contacts. And as I’m inching away with my good idea … here, this week comes Goliath with my envisioned project completed and with their thousands of dollars to back it and get it out there.
I was gutted.
This went above and beyond the One-Upper. It was Checkmate and I didn’t even know I was playing someone else. I didn’t even see it coming or who did it.
It just happened and I sat there in disbelief.
Now what?
Do I just stop? I thought about it. Burned out, I thought about it. I reached out to a writer friend of mine and let her know about the discovery.
Excelsior was in effect. Excelsior! She Silver Linings Playbooked me. She took it from a different perspective and schooled me on the benefits of different points of view and my own voice. I was reminded of that, of my own creative power. The odds were rough, but sometimes you do have a winning hand and The House has to fold. Don’t stop because you saw what The House was holding, you haven’t even flipped your cards over yet. Don’t fold while they’re dealing it out.
And so here I am … playing the hand. Got the pep talk from her and another close friend and I went back to work. Research. Writing. More Research.
And in the midst of all this mini drama, I heard a song, from a commercial, that reminded me of a movie from earlier days, when I wore Levi Jeans and those old school Nike running shoes but I wasn’t running back then, the white ones with red swoosh. Cortez Nike’s. Yup. That was me. That song reminded me of that person. With everything going on but she kept going. The song was a trip too. It’s so cheesy but I love it. And the movie. Montage awesomeness leading to big moments. I figured the universe was giving me a sign … so I smiled and took it. And I’m still on the path, regardless of how many one-uppers I encounter.
Buen Camino!
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You’re The Best — Joe Esposito
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Confident Dance Battle — Leap Soundtrack
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My Way — Aloe Blacc
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Soy Yo — Bomba Estereo
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Another One Bites The Dust — Queen
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The Wish Factor 