Step 1
It’s all useless. Yes, try telling yourself that when the first thought
of writing something appears. Additionally, you can also try to think of
yourself as a bad writer, therefore the idea of someone even enjoying your
written creations will have a solid foundation. Moreover, considering the fact
that you couldn’t keep an internship in writing or even finding a job in the
field should be a more than enough proof that maybe you shouldn’t over-crowd
the virtual world with you written non-sense. Why bother in the first place,
why waste your time on something that clearly does not have an impact on the
world or even on your own little universe?
Step 2
Find an excuse. If the first step did not put you down enough and
you are still determined of coming up with a string of words combined in a textual
matter, this second one might just do the trick. Creating barriers for yourself
such as “I am not talented enough”, “Nobody is going to read it”, “It’s
pointless anyway” and the classic “Ain’t nobody got time for that”, will most
certainly slow down the writing process, if not stop it for good. Coming up
with excuses is always very effective in each dreadful activity and it will
give you a false feeling of satisfaction on the lines of “well, at least I tried
but my objective reasoning simply came up with a better argument”, creating the
illusion of intelligent thinking.
Step 3
Create distractions. Come up with a sedentary routine in your daily
life. Go down the path of the working-class adult who wakes up in the morning tired,
goes to work to a job he doesn’t really enjoy but manages to pay the bills,
comes home tired and eats some comfort food, watches crappy TV while sinking in
the living room couch and then tells himself how tired his brain is and how he
could not possibly exhaust it even further with futile activities such as
writing. And bam!, you’ve concocted the recipe to the murder of all creative
acts: self-pity.
Step 4
Kill the motivation. Drowning yourself in thoughts of self-pity has
its downsides as well. Your motivation is already trying hard to keep its nose
above water and you throwing away the lifejacket and calling quits will only
amplify the idea that there is really no reason for you to write in the first
place. So what you like it? You like lots of stuff that you don’t get to do
because life gets in the way and that’s what maturity is all about - giving up
on your little things so you can see the bigger picture. Grown-up life is known
for killing that little ray of creative sunshine and you are only a human obliging
to the natural order of things.
Step 5
Do the opposite
You need to be able to determine
when enough is enough and pick yourself up from that pit of banality where you’ve
been living for the last year. Taking the easier route, like I’ve been doing
for the last 12 months through the examples illustrated above, will, granted,
give you a warm, comfortable feeling of normality, but will also take away that
unique thing that makes you different from the other seven billion people –
your creativity, your originality, your essence. I’ve wished for normality my
whole life but I had no idea it will rob away this much and would require so
much compromising. Therefore, on a more serious note, do the opposite. If you
think you have something you’re good at and you take pleasure from it, don’t
give it up and built up the courage to do it. It’s not going to matter who
appreciates it, who approves or who criticises it, as long as you are a fan. So,
for the three people that might read this ;-)(and I can’t believe I am saying
this), don’t do like me.
À plus!
*this text might contain traces
of sarcasm
