There are a million stories about love, grief, redemption, and more. None of them are yours.
Has this ever happened to you?
You sit down with an idea to write about something. Maybe it’s a poem. Or a short story. Or an essay. Or even a list of lovely reflections. But now, pen poised above the page or hands hovering above the keyboard, you’re gripped with the thought:
I have nothing new to say.
And, before you know it, every sentence you write (or are about to write) is being compared, consciously or subconsciously, to what’s already 'out there,' to what’s already been said.
What that usually means then is that the words sputter, start, and stop. A half an hour later and you’ve barely written a paragraph. Sometimes you come back the next day and do it all over again. Other times you abandon the idea all together.
First of all, if this has happened to you, know that you are not alone. This happens to me. Often, actually, before I catch what’s going on. For example, when I was working on the draft of my novel, and I could suddenly see that, at its heart, it was a story about love, I froze. I started to think about allllll the books out there that wrestle with this topic, like hundreds, millions of stories!!
I’ve also talked to many writers about the same thing.
It’s such a common phenomenon, in part because it touches on one of the three fundamental fears human beings have – the fear of abandonment, failure and death. Your mind sees writing as something rife with rejection and failure. And, while logically it doesn’t feel like writing is a life-or-death undertaking, if it’s something you’ve been longing to do for a long time, it can feel like it.
So, what could really be going on here?
You’ve gotten caught in a lie.
A lie that’s convincing you that you have nothing special to say. That whatever you have to write about or say on this topic has already been said before and by someone that is much more ____________ (fill in the blank; educated, experienced, talented, successful) than you.
And that lie is powerful. It stops people all the time. Not only from sharing their work or seeking to find a way to share it. It also stops many people from ever writing at all, from even expressing themselves.
We need all the voices.
If there’s anything that’s become more evident these past few years, it’s that the current systems aren’t working.
In literature and art, for example, there has long been a canon of works, an unofficial but official in practice, list of works, authors, artists, etc. that are considered “worthy.” Worthy of preserving, studying, knowing, passing on, and so on.
And for the longest time, that list was built by, filled with, and regularly reinforced almost entirely by white European men. The implication was, of course, that these voices are universally ‘good.’ And that other words were to be judged (and often found lacking) against this “standard.”
Thankfully, this has been shifting.
However at the same time we see governments and societies around the world enacting the same system on a greater scale. They’re attempting enshrine through policies and practices a belief that “certain” voices and beings are universal and worthy, while others are merely subsets, lesser thans.
The truth is of course, that all beings and their voices are worthy. All are needed.
And all the stories
So, now let's go back and consider our own writing. Of course there will be other writers writing about love. And of course, there will be others writing about heartbreak. And grief. And cruelty. And still others writing about redemption, and community.
We need these stories now more than ever.
And we need you, and your stories. Because you will be writing your stories through the lens of your own singular divine essence. You will be considering this world through your own unique life experiences and your own distinctive perspectives. Ones that you hold yourself, different than any other person on the planet.
Your story told in your own voice is automatically incomparable.
It’s authentic to you, and you alone.
Even if you hold your hand up to me and say, ‘But wait, I’m not writing to get published or to share my stories,’ I will say, ‘That doesn’t matter.’
You telling your story onto the page in the only way that you can changes you, and that, in turn, ripples outward.
Writing your story, regardless of whether it’s to be shared or not, is an act of self-expression and self-affirmation.
It’s a stand and a statement. One that says your experience and your perspective matters, no matter what.
What will you write this week?