In life, it’s easy to get caught up in the crap. It’s easy to be drawn off course. In a world where you are pulled in several different directions every day, it’s easy to forget what matters.

On any given day, I have so many things that demand my attention. From wanting to do well at work and contribute meaningfully to the point that I think and worry about things while at home, to wanting to be happy with my body, wanting to be a successful author and worrying about if I’m in the right phase of my life in comparison to other women my age, there are so many worries and frustrations that fill my brain and take up my time. I frequently forget the things in my life that are special, that aren’t transient and that are really what matter.

One of these things is my writing. As much as I love being a writer and telling people I am an author, it seems that my writing is the thing I forget about first. Or, it is the thing that I lose confidence in first. It’s common for writers to suffer from imposter syndrome and I’m definitely one of those people. I’m not sure what it is about our craft that inspires us to feel like we’re not good enough. But, I require a lot of reassurance and validation as I walk this path of aspiring author.

Yes there are the hopes, the dreams. But, in the end, what really matters is how much I love writing, how much I love playing with words. If I never get published, if I never get a ton of readers, I enjoy the stories I tell and getting to explore my relationship with words and create poetic sentences and unique images and phrases.

Not everyone has a special hobby at home and not everyone has that ability to create. I don’t say that to toot my own horn. Instead, I mean it as a reminder for myself and for you ( who are also a writer as well, I expect). People often ask me how I can go home after work and work on a project like a novel that takes months, and sometimes years, of work. But, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t write, if I didn’t have that special desire to create. And, I expect, that you are the same way.

So, when things get crummy and life feels overwhelming or when something bad happens that I can’t control, I have to work really hard to remind myself that my writing is one of those things that truly matters. It rises above all the crap. And I hope that when things get you down or feel overwhelming, that you can pause and remember this, too.

Your writing is special. Your gift as an artist is unique. Don’t let life get in the way of creating.

Thanks for letting me pause and put these thoughts out into the world. Writing this has really changed my mood :). Take care and write on!