Day 30: What Writing For 30 days Has Taught Me.
This challenge was mostly for myself. I had been flaking on writing, I hadn’t been a consistent person and I worried that I was loosing myself to indiscipline. And since I began, I have learnt a lot about myself and my craft.
I learnt that I can be consistent if I choose to; it’s a choice. I had nothing to lose if I had stopped this halfway. I missed one or two days, I had creative block on some days yet I powered through. Like many other things in life, choosing to stay the course on your desired path is very much a choice. Deciding day in day out that you choose to do this, no one forced you, no one compelled you, it was your decision. So why not honour yourself and your decision by being accountable to self.
Discipline is a muscle. In the early days during this challenge, I was on a high. I kept writing excitedly everyday. I would end a very busy day of work and still upload these stories. On some days I would be sitted cross legged on my bed, fresh out of the shower and prepped for bed. Eyes heavy with sleep and just generally tired because I had had a long day, yet I would open my laptop and pen my thoughts for the blog. What I taught myself in those moments is that I had to keep going. Whether I missed a day or not, I had to pick myself up the next day. It didnt get easier even until this very last day but I’ve built discipline. You see, in waking up every day and uploading a story whether I felt like it or not, I had taught myself that this was a non negotiable. I built discipline and I see how this serves me in not just my writing. It’s spilling over into other areas of my life.
Self governing yourself is a life hack. I’ve never quite been a fan of having accountability partners for anything. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been able to self govern but I saw the importance during this challenge. I didn’t tell my friends that I was doing this, so no one was checking on me. I didn’t have a team cheering me on. This was my choice. If I could do things differently, maybe I’d have told my friends so I could have a couple of people in my corner encouraging me to do this. But I didn’t want that for this rodeo. I wanted to see how far I could go and I rate myself more now. That I can self govern in the way that I have, hold myself accountable to commitment even when no one else is visibly looking, it gold to me. It’s giving Wonder Woman.
Just Write, everyday. So I had creative block multiple times. On this journey, I confirmed that writers block is in fact a real thing and it called my name. But what saved me was that I maximized high energy creative days. There were some days when my creativity just flowed and all I wanted to do was write, and I did. On those days, I would write multiple quality stories. What those days did for me was they made up for the days when I experienced writers block. Because I had a couple of stories in my bank, I could upload while I figured out a way to get my creative juice flowing again. I didn’t have a theme and I still don’t. This space is a space for me to free as a creative. I don’t attempt to niche or be rigid about the things I write, I just do. So just write, okay. Do it everyday if you can. It’s a life saver and a hack for writers block.
Routine will save your life. Towards the end of this journey, I finally figured out a routine for my days. And this is a big deal because I suck at routine. I never keep to them especially on days when my moods gets the better of me. I hate to fit into the stereotype of being a creative but the mood swings sometimes get in the drivers seat and it becomes puppet masters. But I hacked it nonetheless. While reading one of David Perell’s newsletter, he mentioned that he writes first thing in the morning, bright and early, every day. I wanted to emulate that. So I set a bedtime for myself. I set screen time downtime on my phone so by 9pm every day, my phone apps would all time out. At first I would over ride the downtime prompts but thanks to discipline, I’d only do it for 15 mins and then it timed out again. After a while, I just learnt to listen to what the phone was telling me to do. I started sleeping early, which meant I could wake up early, take a walk, come back home and write. I had a timetable. Once it was 5pm, I shut my laptop down for the day and played, until 9 then I slept. It was a cycle. I flopped on some days but I picked it up the next day and I’ve now stuck with it till the end.
Read the work of other writers. I’ve always enjoyed reading stories. I started writing stories as soon as I started reading stories. Reading has always been my greatest inspiration. It’s also one of my favorite hobbies. So on days when I would have writers block, I read the work of other writers. I wasn’t searching for any particular thing, I just read. I read novels, I read blogs, I read long captions on instagram. I just consumed content of other creators which then motivate me to create. It works like magic.
There’s inspiration in your surrounding. Because I was writing everyday, I became more present in my world. I experienced things more consciously because maybe this is something I could write about. I looked for stories that I could expand on in my daily experiences. I listened more actively, not so I could come back here to relay the information I received but so it could spur me on to expatiate on a specific topic. Everything became an inspiration to my creativity.
I’m not sure if I’ll do this again but now I know I can. I’ve learnt a lot about myself. I don’t expect to be a brand new person who suddenly sticks to routines and isn’t sometimes a slave to her emotions. But I am committing to continuing to pick myself up every day. To put one foot in front of the other. To continue to be present. To continue to attempt to hack discipline. I might still suck at sticking to a routine but I’m now committed to trying at the very least. I know the kind that works for me now. I’ve learnt about myself and it’s been an incredible journey.
And for those who consistently read all my stories, or even if you’ve read just one on this journey, thank you. I appreciate you. It is an honor to share my work and my thoughts with you in this manner.
Now for my next act, I will attempt to publish here on a bi-weekly basis. Let’s see how it goes.
