Eat Your Sh*t Sandwich

It might not be the tastiest thing on the menu, but it will stop you from starving

Do you believe in magic? What images does the word magic conjure up? Harry Potter and friends? A rabbit in a hat? Things disappearing? To me, on the surface, magic seems accidental, like something unexpected might happen that has favourable outcomes. Or, you might get what you want by wishing for it. Magic is also an illusion. Magic isn’t real. But what if it is? What if magic is like motivation? It doesn’t exist until you create it. If you’re on Medium, you are a creator of stories. Why not create a life story you’d like to live?

I read Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert and was introduced to the idea of the “shit sandwich”.

Having long aspired to make a living writing, Elizabeth Gilbert continued to write while working several low-paying, less inspiring jobs to feed herself and pay her bills. While working as a waitress, she would carry two notepads: one for customer orders and another for story ideas. She wanted to write full-time, but life happens. You cannot follow your dreams if you are starving and cannot keep a roof over your head. To pursue creative passions or dreams, we must endure sacrifices and challenges. You have to take the rough with the smooth, in other words. In any pursuit, any creative endeavour, there will be a struggle. Some aspects of the pursuit will be hard. You will become frustrated and endure unpleasantness. “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows,” as the wise Rocky Balboa once said. There will be sacrifices on your part. If you really want something, you have to give up something else. You can’t have it all, as much as you may try. In Elizabeth’s case, or any other writer on a similar path, you may face failure and rejection. However, these are ingredients in the shit sandwich. If you want the good stuff, you have to swallow some bad.

“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows” — the sage, Rocky Balboa.

Zig Ziglar first made the point well:

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. It’s like a shit sandwich. If you love the bread, you’ll eat the shit.”

The point Elizabeth Gilbert is making with this analogy is that if you truly love and believe in yourself and in what you are doing, you will be able to overcome these challenges and keep moving forward in pursuit of your dreams. The shit sandwich will become more palatable. Hell, you might even eat a buffet of shit sandwiches before you get to where you’re going! The moral of the story is that not everything is easy, but the passion and fulfillment you feel from pursuing your dreams will far outweigh the difficulties.

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Originally published on 5 October 2023.