Every once in a while, we run into these huge brick walls. We get bruised from hitting

them so hard that we almost decide to stop running. We almost decide to

quit everything we love, everything we've ever had a passion for, all

because of a wall made up of lousy bricks.

Ignoring these encounters is much easier said than done, but it can be done. First, you will find yourself becoming the wall that tried to stop you. You will find yourself making excuses to not paint, sing or create any more. You will tell yourself that the one negative comment voided the mounds of positive feedback you had received. You will try to save yourself from more disheartening words, but you are only a catalyst for the inevitable reaction that you have created. If you feed a stray cat, it will continue to come back to your door. If you feed negativity, it will do the same. You can't keep putting wood into a fire and wonder why there's still a flame.

I almost stopped writing once. It was after a poem I wrote was made fun of; I was destroyed. I convinced myself that because one person didn't like my work, everyone must have hated it too. It baffles me that I ever had the thought to stop writing. Someone who was incapable of understanding an allegory almost made me stop doing something I love, and that frightens me.

As someone who puts anything into the world, you must understand that there will be brick walls. You must understand that praise and success lie beyond them. You must understand that you're going to have to face failure, neglect and negativity. If you are passionate about something, you cannot allow those things to keep you from doing what you love. Failure, neglect and negativity are only as strong as you allow them to be.

So next time you find yourself face to face with a brick wall, don't add bricks to it—tear it down.