AvoleenWrites

It’s Wednesday afternoon and you are at work. You just had your lunch and the last thing you want to do is to get back to working. You look at the time and sigh. 4 hours to go until you can go home.

Suddenly, you get a great story idea and immediately type it up on your phone. You promise yourself that you will start writing as soon as you get home. You are happy with the creative inspiration and it motivates you to push through your shift. You now have something to look forward to when you get home.

A few hours later, you are home. You are exhausted and hungry. You tell yourself that you just need to shower and eat first before you can start working on your new story idea.

3 hours later you are sitting on your couch watching Netflix. It’s almost 9pm. It’s too late to start writing now. You have to wake up early tomorrow for work. You will have to try again tomorrow night.

Spoiler alert, the story never gets written. It remains an idea typed up in your phone until the next time you get inspiration. Your notes app is filled with unfinished ideas. The cycle repeats itself.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, this story is about me. I am sure some of you can relate in some way. If you have been going through this for years like I have, it’s so easy to think that you will never be able to pick up your pen and write again.

It’s easy to tell yourself that too much time has passed and it’s too late. It’s not. Writing is a lot like riding a bicycle. You will always remember how to do it but if you haven’t done it awhile it will take a little bit of time to get back right into it. So, don’t be discouraged.

Writing is a skill that requires continuous development so you don’t have to worry about it being perfect. Especially when you haven’t written anything in awhile.

Seeking perfection has been holding me back for the longest time. Anytime I wrote something I would reread it and then rewrite it a few times but I was never satisfied with the end product. Even when I would ask a friend to read my work for me and they enjoyed it, I found myself doubting their feedback. I would tell myself that they are only saying that because they are my friend. They don’t want to hurt my feelings with the truth.

And just like that I would talk myself out of writing again until a few months later I would get a burst of creative energy and attempt to write again. Imposter’s syndrome had gotten the best of me. You can imagine the combination of feeling like an imposter and wanting perfection what that must have felt like. I felt powerless.

I wish I could tell you that all my fears are gone and the imposter’s syndrome is gone. But the truth is that it’s not. I realized that if I waited until I felt “ready” I would never write again. Perfection is unattainable because imperfection is part of humanity. Denying my imperfection would be denying my humanity.

So here I am with my first post. It’s not perfect and I am okay with it. I am sure there will be days I will not feel confident about my writing and that’s okay. The feeling will pass. I won’t let it stop me from writing. Maybe writing is not your passion and it’s something else. A hobby or creative pursuit from your past that you have been thinking about picking up again. Don’t let perfection or fear discourage you.

You can start again.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!