When I was in college, I found my love for writing long letters to people I love. I only ever wrote for people close to me and I would fill page after page. I always wrote by hand and because my friends don’t want to die from my hands, they always appreciated this gift.
Don’t worry, I gave them actual gifts as well. But for me, the best part about the gifts was the letters.
Almost a year back, I started writing online. It is still hard to put your thoughts online for all people to see and judge, but we do it anyway because we love it.
But it is not easy to find the time to do so.
There is a lot of difference between writing letters to people you love and writing online. When you love someone, you don’t feel judged. You don’t have to worry about consistency and, to be honest, you will not write letters to your friends every day.
But every article you read online will tell you to write daily if you want to get better at it. And I did just that.
I wrote daily for almost two months after an 8-month gap to get back on track. But because life does not go the way you want, I got sick. I used to have headaches and I suffer from insomnia, but things got worse in the last few weeks and my productivity has gone down the gutter.
The funny thing is I am more worried about my writing and coding than I am about my health. I know this is not right.
But when you have worked hard for something, it is always hard to take a break. It took me one month to actually start writing after I took that 8-month gap.
And I don’t want to repeat that.
What is the thing that is stopping you from writing? What keeps you busy and tired all the time?
It can be anything and even when you are doing what you are supposed to, you will always feel guilty for not doing the thing you love, i.e. writing.
My advice, do what I am doing. Write letters to your friends again, maybe to your spouse.
Write for yourself before you write for someone else.
Work on yourself before you try to give value to other people’s lives.
I feel guilty for not writing every day. But I am also proud of myself for writing through headaches and insomnia. Even if I wrote just two lines or two paragraphs.
Be proud of your achievement before you criticize yourself. Look how far you have come and enjoy it.
May the guilt leaves you!
Here is what I wrote since you last heard from me:
Don’t Sleepwalk Through the Most Important Decisions of Your Life. Do This Instead.
7 Quotes to Help You Kickstart Your Writing Journey
Women in Iran Are Chopping off Hair and Burning Hijab
I Wrote for 15 Days Straight After 8 Month Gap and This Happened
If you are interested in coding click here to read the articles I wrote on coding.
What I am reading this week:
I want to say I am reading something very informative, something that makes me look smart. But I am reading a simple young adult book, which doesn't teach me much but I like simple stories and I am a hopeless romantic.
So, I am reading Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins.
You can try it if you want, but if not do try A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. It's one of my favorite books and I have read it maybe four to five times by now.