I’m taking the month of February off.
Lately I’ve been feeling too much pressure to publish and it hasn’t been coming from inspiration. I’m trying to force great ideas, I’m trying to force great writing and I’m trying to force results, and I promised myself I wouldn’t be.
I’m proud that I posted every week in 2015. I’m actually beyond proud of myself, but clearly I need a break. I’m scrambling for ideas and not putting in the kind of time I need to make the posts great and the process fulfilling.
It’s also occurred to me that I’m not “blogging” enough. By blogging I mean talking about my life and reflecting on it. While writing well-crafted articles illustrating a point are nice, it’s also nice to just talk about my life in an interesting way, which is what I used to do before I started taking this things so seriously.
What I really hope to accomplish during this sabbatical is a renewed sense of joy for writing articles. I also want to ignite some of the passion that drives me to want to write, I’ve found lately that I’ve been too equanimous about everything and while that’s nice for a peaceful life, I like getting fired up about stuff.
I also want to journal more. In fact, as I write this I’m realizing that I’d love to do a lot of writing in February, just not the kind that I publish. I want to let myself get back into the flow and let ideas come out naturally, without trying to force them.
Can I overstate how much journaling helps me? No I certainly cannot. It’s so crucial because I need the balance between times I write “when it matters” and times when it doesn’t. Journaling doesn’t matter, and it’s so nice to be able to write whatever I want.
Ahhhhhhhh. Blah blah blah. Look at me, I’m writing whatever I want cause I’m CA-RAAAZY like that.
Boy that feels good. I’ve definitely been taking myself too seriously as a writer lately. Taking myself seriously as a writer really helped me publish consistently, but I believe it had the side effect of me giving way too many fucks.
That’s it. I’ll be publishing again on Wednesday March 2nd. Thank for you reading this, for supporting me, for sharing my work and for being a part of this blog. I love you so much and I can’t wait to kick more ass for you in March.
Love,
Dave
P.S. I’m a huge Calvin & Hobbes fan.