What part of "Si él te dice que 'ya está', ¡ya está!" don't you understand???

Long ago I learned that I should alwaysalways heed what this particular mentor says. She has never been wrong when it comes to advising me. I should heed what all of my mentors say, but there are two of them in particular who I've always trusted implicitly. The ones who just knew from a first meeting, how I work, how I am.

So, while I could have agonized over the proposal until 2:00 today, I sent it off at about 10:00. My director had indeed pronounced the magic words, "Ya está." ("It's done.") And these are the words that should have carried the most impact, but of course the ones I've been hearing have been the not-so-magic words. They've finally faded a bit. I know that the next few months will bring more words of criticism, and they will be hard to read. But, being written, they will be a bit softer than the ones that were spoken. But now, I realize that because he spoke them to my face and then continued speaking for 20-30 minutes after that now I have another veryvery strong advocate. Sometimes I may think he doesn't know how I am and how I work, but really, it could just be that he's teaching me a bit about what's not working.

His words are in my work now, And they fit. And because of them I am somehow even more invested in this work. And I hope that when more words come, I hope I can remember how I feel about them today...like I'm ready to face them. Like this. A man would say "balls out", but since this project is about women...