Can’t Write Today?

The rain just stopped pouring, and there’s the parchment-colored sunlight shining on the front yard. I’m sitting by the garden, staring at the lush green grass long overdue for a trim.

And I have no clue what to write about today.

I have content ideas scribbled on a thin blue notebook and a few sloppily typed prompts on Notion, but I don’t feel excited by any of them.

Ever feel this way too?

I watched The Story of Diana, finished a bottle of Coke, and won in a staring contest with my dog. But nada. Inspiration took a rain check.

Yet here I am furiously typing at the keyboard, writing.

Because I’m slowly unlearning the pressure to come up with life-changing or brilliant content every single time.

On some days, we create gems worthy of being stored in the treasure chests of our readers’ minds. Other times, we write pieces we think belong in the wastebasket.

But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right?

When I was eighteen, a friend once offered a salve after I opened up about my insecurities. “You’re beautiful, but you can’t recognize it — because you’re overfamiliar with it. You see yourself every day in the mirror. You’re used to it, so you can’t see it.”

And maybe sometimes that’s how we see our work too.

This is an #atomicessay originally published in July for #ship30for30.

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