What Showing Up Is Teaching Me
Have you ever caught yourself saying, “Once X happens, then I’ll be ready to do Y.” It’s a formula for the comfortable. I’ve been there a billion times, though.
I’m grateful for the habits I’ve picked up in my (relatively) short time writing regularly online. There have been small changes in my day-to-day, with ideas casually bubbling up during the workday, leaving me itching to return to my keyboard and type.
Surprisingly, I haven’t felt this way in quite some time. It really feels like I’ve awoken something within myself that has laid dormant for far too long.
As I show up for my creative pursuits, I’m learning something nearly every day. Sometimes, the lesson is about the craft, but the takeaways I’m sharing here can apply to whatever it is that sets your soul on fire.
I hope it encourages you just as it does for me.
You might not ever feel like you’re qualified enough. Do it anyway.
I thought that writing more would make me feel a bit more like an Actual Writer™️, but a nagging voice in the back of my head still persists. It likes challenging my credibility and asking me if my words matter. It’s quite annoying.
However, I’ve noticed that as the writing continues, I’ve been more inspired, and when I’m more inspired, my writers’ block has decreased. And when my writers’ block is diminished, those voices of impostor syndrome are quelled (at least a bit).
Mistakes will arise, and that’s okay.
In my 9-to-5, I’m an editor. When I’d stepped into this role, though, one of the most poignant tips that my mentor had given me was “done, not perfect.”
At first, that gave me a ton of pause. Wasn’t I supposed to ensure that every last word I’d edited was immaculate?
Over time, my mentor had gently shown me that getting that work done was better than perpetually holding onto it, waiting for the right time when it was absolutely perfect.
News flash: we’re never going to achieve perfect on this side of heaven.
That reality is humbling. At work, I certainly have made mistakes…and in my creative endeavors, yep, even more so. You’ll see them the moment you hit publish.
Good thing there’s an edit button!
Don’t wait ’til it’s perfect. It won’t be. The beauty of a passion project, whether it’s writing or painting or woodworking or something else, is that it’s yours. That is better than textbook perfect.
Showing up imperfectly is better than not showing up at all. So go do the thing!
Keep going to keep momentum.
With my first few essays, I’d have a single clever thought, and then, I’d spend the rest of an evening staring at the screen, much like SpongeBob in that one episode:
We’ve all been there. Show up anyway.
It reminds me of this one Confucius quote that would plague Tumblr back in my teen blogging days:
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
The magical thing about returning to your work again and again is that you’ll surprise yourself. Good becomes great in the daily grind. Even when you don’t think what you’re doing is anything special, it is because it’s yours. What’s stopping you from that?