Just keep swimming.

My daughter loves the movie Finding Nemo. In fast, she loves it almost as much as she loves the sequel, Finding Dory. I love them, too, even though watching them as a parent triggers a certain amount of anxiety.

Whenever I watch it with her, I always linger for a moment or two on “just keep swimming.” It’s a beautiful mantra, one I revisit often in my own life. Just keep swimming is the reason I write and draw. In fact, it’s the reason I started this blog in the first place.

Not to get overly personal, but the truth is: I write because I must. I write because it’s therapy, because it’s release. I write because I don’t feel like the person I want to be if I keep it all inside. And I’ve written SO many things over the years: poems and short stories, plays and entire books. Most of these will never see the light of day (and probably for good reason). In the past, I’ve thought of each unpublished story or book as a failure, wrapped it around my legs and let it drag me to the bottom. It’s such an easy thing to do, such a weightless place to go.

But over the years I’ve changed, I’ve forced myself to view them as currents, each one flowing into the other, the lines I’ve written in the past merging with the lines of my present, propelling me forward to the next story or poem or book.

And all I have to do is just keep swimming.

If we view every mistake or misstep or stumble as failure, then success fades quickly and everything after it drags you down to greater depths. But if we view every mistake or misstep as an opportunity to learn and grow, then we keep moving forward until finally we get to where we’re going.