Encouraging words

There is an echo chamber in my brain that reverberates with every rejection and harsh critique about my writing. But there is a better place too. It is padded with encouraging words, each as soft as a down feather. Sometimes I forget this place exists. It's pure joy when I discover it again.

Then I remember the time:

my dad liked a story I told him, and asked me to write it down.

A friend spent an hour transcribing my haiku at the beach.

My English teacher read my story aloud to the class.

I won an award for my poetry.

My cousin Leon didn't want to go to dinner because he was engrossed in my unpublished MG girl novel.

Everyone laughed in the right places when I read my pages at a critique group meeting.

I would write no matter what, but moments like these give me a boost. Every writer has them. Would anyone like to share?