Spring Forward, Fall Back is a cute way to remember what time to set your clock to when DST (Daylight Savings Time) sneaks upon us. My mother taught it to me when I was younger and I still remember it to this day.
September always reminds me of this little saying especially when I wake up around 6:00am and it's still a little dark or if I'm driving home around 7:00pm and the sun is setting.
However, this time it made me think of another popular saying my mother used to say... make sure you have something to fall back on.
In school, I sang in the choir actually winning an award in music when I graduated high school. As I got older, I used to perform at weddings and other functions. I loved to perform. But after graduation and it came time for me to go to college, I settled for an easy major; secretarial science. Who ever even heard of secretarial science? Regardless, I took my mother’s advice and learned how to type so I would have something to fall back on.
But fall-back wasn't just a phrase my mother created because I would hear it from others. I remember having a long conversation with my best friend's husband about his parents making that comment in regards to him wanting to be a drummer. For him the word fall-back meant giving up his passion and settling for a nice respectable job. No one had ever broke it down for me like that. But even after that conversation, I still went on to use my fall-back for 12 years.
The phrase "Fall-Back" means that you've given up and now you can "fall-back" to the safe and familiar. Don't get me wrong. I definitely believe that while you're working on your writing or whatever your passion is and if you're like me and you need to pay the bills, then by all means get that day job.
However, don't fall-back on it. The problem with that advice is that if you’re not careful, you’ll look twenty-years down the line and realize you used that little valuable tool as a crutch.
Working at a 9-5 job can definitely turn into a fall-back. It's familiar, a steady income, most have benefits and it provides a stable environment. Unless you already have a stable career as a writer these attributes are very attractive.
But when I have to work full-time I make sure I keep the word temporary in my mind. I stay focus by writing as much as I can in my spare time so it will help me keep my eye on the prize...a career as a full-time writer.
So instead of looking on what I can fall-back on, I concentrate on springing-forward. After all, isn't that what us writers are supposed to do?
Do you have any Fall-Back Stories?
Please share...
Happy Writing!
SMB
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