Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Life is much easier when I distinguish myself from things that I produce.

I write. I write blog posts, books, magazine articles, and lots of documents at work. People tear up some of the things I write. That can hurt, if I don’t know the difference between me and something I wrote.

Things I write are just that—things I write. They are not me. People shred things I write. People don’t shred me (that would be quite painful). If someone hates something I write, that is okay. (If someone hates me, that is okay too, but not quite as okay.)

Life is much easier when I understand this separation between myself and the things I produce.