Time for reflection When someone takes a photo of you contemplating life,

Just before a photo shoot.

Sometimes we learn something about ourselves and it changes
EVERY.

GOD.

DAMN.

THING.

And kicks us up the arse like a mosquito getting hit by a Bad Ass Mac Truck hurtling along the road at top speed.

No warning.

No preparation.

No nada.

Just impact.

Messy, bloody impact.

Bringing with it the death of another layer of ego and self awareness.

So we can step forward towards everything we have been building,

Everything we have been nurturing,

Only to find out that our work is being used by another,

With them winning awards with the words we have written,

Celebrating ‘their success’ as they pass off our work as their own,

Then something else happens and we see them in a new light,

Start to distrust them, whilst hoping we have misread a situation,

But then their mask slips again,

And then again,

Before the final blow happens and any trust and respect we had for them disappears in a heart beat.

We feel sad, disappointed and grateful,

Because now we know,

And we also realise that all our learnings and experience,

All our growth,

All the deep shadow work we’ve been doing is allowing us to SEE on a much deeper level.

And we are able to pass through it much quicker than ever before,

And instead of feeling sad for ourselves,

We feel sad for them that they feel the need to use other people and their work to get ahead in the world,

Using and declaring other people’s work as their own,

And sad that they have to manipulate people in such a way just to get ahead.

We come to realise that we can no longer be around them, and that’s OK.

Because we don’t need them,

And they have shown us it is them who needed us,

Needed others and the work they created,

Because we learn we are not the only ones whose work they have passed off as their own,

It is a character trait they have,

Like a penguin stealing materials from another penguin’s nest just so they can build their own.

The most beautiful thing about this though is the fuel it pours on our fires,

It is the new sense of determination we have to keep building ourselves,

Fortifying our business,

Whilst keeping our own integrity and moral compass intact.

Because at the end of the day,

We are the ones who know the truth behind the lies, the ego, the manipulation and the treachery.

We are the creators of our own content, our own visions and it is up to us to protect our intellectual property at all costs,

Whilst protecting our energy, our space and our sanity.

As writers, we are creators of our destiny, creators of visions, of worlds, and of the future.

People will always steal and plagiarise our content, all we have to do is remember they took it for a reason – because they were incapable of creating it themselves.

Stay strong in your pursuit of excellence, and remember the world you want to create is just a few paragraphs away!

With love,

As always,

Dawn

*For all those wanting to build a successful author life as an author, make sure you sign up to my 7 Week Author Course