People who write for a living are superheroes.
I enjoy writing. It is nourishing to me to take the thoughts in my head and turn them into tangible concepts. And I have long had stories floating around in my head that I’d love to get out someday.
I also do want people to read what I write, mainly because I feel that writing is my strongest avenue for drawing people to Truth. I’m not always right and I know I don’t represent Christ with perfection by any stretch of the imagination. But if it is at all possible for me to help others see Him more clearly through the practice of writing, I want to do it!
In our society, though, to truly make an impact as a writer, you have to “sell” yourself. You have to draw attention and make people want to read what you have to write. That’s the part I’m horrible at. I don’t push my writing. I don’t make sure that my content is right there in front of everybody, encouraging them to see and read. I prefer to be behind the scenes in real life, and that’s no different in writing.
So on days like today when the thoughts just aren’t flowing and the writing hits roadblocks, I can’t imagine having to both write and promote myself as a competent writer. It makes me wonder what the point is. Why do I even write, anyway?
I don’t think I’m alone in thoughts like these, and not just about writing, either. I think there’s a lot of stuff we just never do in life because we go down the “why bother?” trail. We hit a bad day and suddenly see all of the things we’re not good at. So, we decide we shouldn’t bother even with the things we are good at (probably because we no longer feel good at them).
Because living life — truly living it — is scary. That’s just the reality.
I don’t like scary. I like safe. I like confident. I like to know that something I start is going to work out from beginning to end. I don’t like to invest in things that may not succeed. (For the record, some days are overwhelming enough that this even involves investing in mundane things like cooking lunch. Yes, I’m weird. Yes, today is one of those days, and it has shown in my utter lack of productivity. I’m not sure how I’m even forming coherent words at all! But I digress.)
Today is one of those no-flow, roadblock kind of days. And I almost just didn’t bother, which is honestly my typical response when I hit days like today. I almost didn’t write. I put it off for a while, filling my time with piddly, unproductive things instead of moving forward well with my day. Which means I not only wasn’t writing, I also wasn’t doing anything else good and productive and useful.
Because that’s easier and safer than diving in and trying to do something that I may not be able to complete. It’s easier than failing. It’s easier to just not do than to question whether or not doing it is worth the effort.
I didn’t punt today, though. I sat down and did. It took me a lot longer than it should have, and I wasted most of my morning in the delay. But I did it. (Oh, and lunch worked itself out, too, but that was because my wonderful hubby jumped in with an awesome suggestion. Thank you, Hubby!)
It makes me feel just a bit like a superhero. Not a superhero who can tackle the battles of the world but one who can persevere over my own struggles. An ordinary but very, very personal superhero.
I have a feeling you have days like this, too. But you’re doing life anyway. You’re pushing forward. You’re tackling the scary. That makes you a superhero, too. One who is victorious over the ordinary that feels so overwhelming.
The results don’t have to be great. Goodness knows this blog post isn’t great. But I’m doing it. And I’m publishing it before I can talk myself out of it. And I’m encouraging you to go ahead and do, too.
Be a superhero for yourself today.
Not Quite Ordinary 