Recently I heard from a writer who said, “I feel like I get so bogged down with building a platform, I don’t have time to write!”

That’s the cry of so many writers I’ve worked with.

Here’s another one: “I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels. I forget why I got into this in the first place.”

Sometimes we can get so bogged down in the nitty-gritty of building a platform, serving our audience, and writing a manuscript. It can get exhausting and demoralizing.

If you resonate with these sentiments, I want to offer a perspective I’ve found enormously helpful.

Your Ancestors and You the Ancestor

I read a poem by David Whyte recently titled “Coleman’s Bed” that ends with the notion of becoming an ancestor.

Have you ever thought about that? I hadn’t. But it’s true. You, someday, will be an ancestor to other people.

It got me thinking about my own ancestors. I thought, for example, of my paternal great grandparents, two people I never met but are legendary in our family. We know them as Big Papa and Big Mama.

I thought about those I claim as ancestors—people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa and Thomas Merton.

Eventually I began to think of those who will think of me as their ancestor. I thought about the books (books written by readers of this blog!) to which I hope to be an ancestor.

In short, I thought about those who’ve had a vital influence on me and those whom I hope to influence, even years after I’m gone.

Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash

Your Future Happiness

Whyte’s poem ends with a surprising twist. He refers to becoming the “Saint your future happiness will always remember,” which is worth pondering.

How can you become the saint your future self will smile back on?

The idea here, or at least my idea here, is that someday I will look back on the things I’m doing now with some measure of either gratitude or regret. This reframes today’s actions in a way that’s very helpful.

Often my concerns are so immediate. I need to get money in the account, food on the table. I need to get the tires rotated or my eyes checked. These things are important, of course, but I can easily get swept away in them and begin to feel like a hamster on a wheel.

When I think about my formation as an ancestor, I get a bigger perspective. I begin to see a grander purpose in which all of these quotidian tasks have more meaning.

I’m able to tap into a motivation for my actions that both encompasses and transcends whatever’s on today’s to-do list. And because of that, I can approach my day-to-day activities with more energy. I move from a more tactical/practical way of living to a more artful way of living.

Two Easy Exercises

I commend these two easy exercises to you:

• Reflect on the fact that you one day will be an ancestor to others. To what and to whom do you want to be an ancestor?
• Reflect on being the saint today that your future happiness will always remember. What activities must you engage today so that in the future you’ll look back on this day with a smile?

When we think of ourselves as ancestors to others and as the saints of our future happiness, we stand a good chance of renewing our passion for the art we’ve been called to create.

Question: To what and to whom do you want to be an ancestor? You can leave a comment by clicking here.