I’ve been doing this all wrong—this writing thing. In the past, I wrote to sound like other people because I wasn’t confident in my writing ability. I wrote grammatically correct instead of honestly because I did not want my writing to be frowned upon or disliked. After all, ultimately, in my mind, it meant I was being opposed because my content is an extension of me.
I thought if people liked me and my content, it would lead to new connections, relationships, monetary gains, and exposure. There’s nothing wrong with wanting any of those things but that was not my reason for starting this blog. I started this blog (1) because God told me to (more on this later), (2) After all, I’ve always loved to write and, (3) I wanted to create content that was honest and relatable. But I made a dismal mistake and began comparing my writing to other people’s writing, and it opened a massive can of worms. Suddenly my writing voice was not good enough. Not only was my writing not good enough, but my pictures weren’t good enough, and ultimately I wasn’t good enough.
One day God spoke to me and said, “I only asked you to write. I never asked you to write like someone else and look like someone else. I want you to write and be honest.” I heard God clearly, but my analytical mind went into overdrive again. “Just write,” I heard again, and I took some time to think about it because I could not help it. “Just write.” I thought and thought and thought. “Just write.” Forget punctuation and structure, forget grammar, forget about what everyone is doing, forget about what you don’t have and how things look, and write!
That is what I’ve decided to do. When I overthink writing, it becomes a barrier, and I end up not writing at all or writing something that sounds forced. So, here I am, answering the call, not overthinking, and just writing. I hope on the other side of this is the materialization of my initial intention, which is to create honest and relatable content.
With love,
S.
Obey, and you will be blessed. Disobey and you will be cursed. ~ Deuteronomy 11:26-28
