Constipation of the Mind

You are reading this blog right now but to be honest you shouldn't be.

The words you are taking in were not meant to exist. The reason being that when I set out to write this blog I had something completely different to write about. Something that I hope will eventually come out but I am struggling to write now. It's my mind constipation.

The thing with writing or blogging is that it takes discipline. It requires making sure that for about an hour or so, three, four, five, gosh maybe seven days a week you sit down and right.

It takes commitment. It takes patience and most of all it just takes action. You only write because you sit down and write. You don't write because you have got all your jobs for the day out of the way. You don't write because you have a certain feng shui in your life that day. You don't write because you have lots of ideas running around in your head for good pieces. What is going on around you doesn't really matter.

You write because you sit down and write.

The same goes for studying for an exam, or for starting a business or for starting a non profit.

You do it because you do it.

There will be resistance, there will be voices telling you, you aren't able to do it (inner voices and not so inner). There will be other things you could do and there will be facebook.

But if you start to do whatever it is you are struggling to get into right now, I promise you will see something amazing happen. You will get into a swing. You will find ideas that you didn't know were possible come alive. You will surprise yourself of what you are capable of doing. You will learn. You will grow. You will go at it like a bullet, you will struggle to keep going....but if you do. You will succeed.

And the best thing is that if you are banging your head against a wall and can't seem to begin that project, job application, book, painting, ministry, then chances are you meant to be doing it.

So take comfort in that and remember beginning is the hardest part.

Now if you excuse me I have a blog to write...

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Quitters Anonymous

I'm a quitter.

There I said it.

I don't like seeing things through. When something gets tough I take the easy route and bail. It's easier. It means no emotional involvement and it means not having to face yourself. Which may be a good thing short term but not so much in the long term.

Take writng for example. Already I have started to write something three times and deleted it all because I thought it was rubbish. Which it may have been. But the truth is I just wanted to stop. Close my computer and go and do something else. Not have to deal with the part of me that tells me I need to write.

Does that happen to you? If you are a human reading this then I am pretty sure the answer is yes. Maybe not writing but maybe following a dream, or an opportunity.

How often do we give up on the first sign of trouble. Or even the second or third. The first time something we are working on doesn't quite work out the way we hoped. Or had in mind. The job interview we ballsed up or the song or the book. In our head we had this idea that it would be amazing first time. That it would come together the way we imagined right away.

But that never happens.


We want to find our own individual voice but we feel like we are speaking for someone else. That's how I feel most of the time I write. I am still searching for that. I am still searching for what will make how I write, my writing. Most of the time I feel like I am just rehashing old ideas. Even my own ideas.

So I want to quit. I don't want to be fake or copy someone. I pretend that quitting is noble. But it isn't.

But if I give up I will never find my voice. I will never find out what it is I was meant to do. Sure going ahead may mean I will sit and stare at a blank screen frustrated and confused. But if I give up I will never get through that. If I walk away I may feel better, but sooner or later I will be called to write again. And when I do I will go through the same motions.

So how do I stop that cycle?

I write.

I have to. I have no other choice. If I don't I will grow more and more frustrated. And if I do keep going?

Eventually I will get there. There may be a lot of typing and deleting. But I will get there. I have to. You have to. We have to.

The alternative is not worth thinking about. Or maybe it is.

What if Shakespeare had given up? What if Michelangelo didn't push through his sore neck painting the Sistine Chapel roof (what a pain that must have been?!)

There are two people who would have missed out.

First, themselves. They would not have experienced the joy that fulfilling their purpose brought.

Second, everyone else. Their work brought and continues to bring happiness, inspiration and motivation to the world.

Don't deny us your work. Don't deny yourself.

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