No Less Worthy

NO LESS VALUABLE. For those of you who know that I wrote and self-published a children's book, you know that it was a long time coming. If you didn't know - then you can check it out here: A Visit to Nana available currently on Kindle and Paperback in English and Una Visita a Mi Abuelita in Spanish. Yah - I published my book in both languages - because our family is bilingual.

This isn't a promotion tool, while I would love for others to read the book and pass it along to anyone who's dealing with the loss of a beloved "Nana" - this is a note to everyone that you can absolutely celebrate your own wins. AND SHOULD!

It's so easy to diminish the result by saying "Oh - it's "just" a book about my son's grief. It's "just a self-published book" . It's "just an e-book" (well- not anymore). All of those things made me look at this accomplishment and feel like it wasn't really a big deal. But friends - it IS a big deal. It's been a dream of mine for nearly 20 years to be a writer and by publishing this simple 25-page book - I've accomplished something BIG. No one else in my family has written a book.

My book has sold a few copies. It’s not the best design or best layout… but it is no less a book than those others on our shelf. It is worthy to sit amongst the other books.

Today was the first time I opened the physical book and looked at it as a book- not just a silly thing I did. I turned the pages, I examined the illustrations, the ink, the paper. I’d like to say- it’s not 1/2 bad. Then, I put it next to our other favorites and guess what happened? I realized that there’s nothing to show that it isn’t worthy- it looks and feels just the same. I’m proud.

Be proud of your accomplishments, folks. Even when those accomplishments are small and metered. You are making great strides toward the person that you're meant to be. Don't be discouraged and don't diminish your value.