Not getting what you want.

Have you ever wanted something so much, that it was the most important thing to you? And then, you didn’t get it?

Many years ago, I applied to a graduate writer’s program that only took a handful of people. It was at a university, and there was a grueling interview and application process.

When I got there, and met with the interviewer, I knew I wasn’t going to get in: I wasn’t academic enough, I wasn’t literary enough. And still, when the rejection letter came, I was crushed. My entire future possibility as a writer seemed to swirl down the drain.

As it turned out, of course, not getting into this writer’s pro- gram was the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to discover what I really wanted to write. Not what a writer’s program deemed as appropriate or “good.”

But what I was here to create.

For example, was I only a writer if I had an academic writing path I could follow blindly? Or would I still be a writer, with no landmarks, no support, doing it anyway?

Flash forward many years: and I have written quite a few books. If I’d gotten into that program, I doubt I’d have written anything, ever. I wouldn’t have needed to push myself in the same way. I wouldn’t have taken the risk to expose myself in that way.

In not getting into the writing program, the Universe didn’t give me what I thought I wanted. Instead, the Universe gave me what I needed, so that I could take the next step in my soul growth.

Next time you think the gates have been slammed shut, look again.