Blog #756: Is Your Try Running Out?

He is tired of trying.

______

“Hey Shawn,

Thanks for always showing up. When I’m at my lowest, you write what I need to read. I need something big now. I keep trying, but it feels like I’m getting nowhere. I’m wondering if it’s time to throw in the towel.”

______

I know this guy’s exhaustion.

But I got lucky.

Somewhere along my way, I learned this:

If I didn’t love the try…

I’d have quit a long, long time ago.

______

Last week…

I sent multiple media pitches into the world.

Different stories.

Different publications.

Different possibilities.

Different places in the world.

To Oprah Daily I pitched: The ‘Why Try?’ Question Never Stops

To AARP, I pitched: At 63, I’m Still Becoming a Beginner

To SUCCESS Magazine I pitched: The Unanswered Place

I sent pitches to editors in the U.S.

Singapore.

India.

The Philippines.

South Korea.

Malaysia.

Australia.

Each different.

Each one bleeding with the best I have in me.

______

Now let me be real.

Experience has taught me something hard:

My odds of getting a “We love it!” from even one of them aren’t great.

I know my chances are dismal at best.

I know editors are flooded with hundreds…maybe thousands…of emails.

Millions of voices competing for the same few moments of attention.

And…

There is a very, very, very real chance every one of my pitches will find the “Trash” folder.

I know this as deep in my brain as it goes.

And still…

Every time I hit “send”…

I hope anyway.

______

So I put them all out there.

Not because I expect to succeed…

But because I’ve learned something after a lifetime of chasing dreams.

I’ve sat forever with unanswered emails.

I’ve watched passionate ideas I believed in disappear without a response.

I’ve wondered a zillion times if the next step was worth taking.

And still…

I show up.

Every time.

The outcome is not what keeps me alive.

My trying does.

______

Now, please…

Don’t get me wrong.

I will be crazy happy if one of the editors gives me a “Yes!”

But if every answer is “Sorry…no”…

I’ll pitch again.

Not because I love rejection.

But because I’m someone who loves the possibility of what my TRY can create.

______

Love the try.

You just gotta.

You have to feel it somewhere deeper than your head.

Because if you only love the outcome…

The waiting will eventually break you.

______

So, to the reader who wrote me this week…

The one who feels like his try is running out…

Let’s roll it one more time.

Maybe two more.

Hopefully ten more.

Just don’t fall out of love with the try.

And maybe…just maybe…

See if you can start falling in love with the try, too.

Because one day you may discover…

The outcome isn’t what keeps you alive.

Your trying does.

S.

P.S. One press release I sent out last week to the U.S. unexpectedly turned into a media hit in Singapore. A reminder that sometimes the try can surprise us.

(Audio version)