On any given day, “You might not feel inspired,” says author, editor, and blogger Leah McClellan. “You might think you don’t feel creative. The thought of writing might feel overwhelming. You might feel dread, fear, or worry. You might think it won’t be any good or you think you’ll never finish it. You feel tired, or you think you’re too distracted.”
I’ve had every one of those thoughts and feelings about writing. How about you?
We writers spend a lot of time in our heads. This is a good thing for creativity. Our thoughts provide us with new ideas and approaches. Our feelings suggest points of view and fuel our writing voice. But about the act of writing itself, our thoughts and feelings aren’t always supportive of sitting down at the keyboard and forming sentences and paragraphs.
On the contrary, our thoughts and feelings can make it darned hard at times to get our writing done. How do we deal with that?
Leah has this advice: “But guess what? You are not your thoughts. You are not your feelings… Let the thoughts come and go. Be aware of them, but don’t pay them any mind. Recognize the reactions in your body — your emotions — but don’t let them stop you.”
Ahh. I can feel myself relax just reading those words. Yes, my thoughts and feelings about writing matter. But they don’t need to dictate what I choose to do.
I can write whenever I please, no matter what I think or how I feel about it. Today, I choose to write.
