For those of you who follow my blog, or connect with me on social media, it’s probably no secret that I’m a bit (okay maybe a lot) of a neurotic hot mess.
Writing and publishing for me is a constant balancing act between the desire to write against my ever-present anxiety and fear of failure. On a bad day, that anxiety leads to procrastination, and then writing even 500 words can feel like climbing a slippery slope in totally unsuitable shoes.
When things aren’t going well, I spend a lot of time beating myself up. But I’m trying to be more aware of the negative messages in my own head, and I’m learning to challenge them when I find myself thinking things that send me into a downwards spiral.
So now when I sit down to write, I literally tell myself (often out loud as long as I’m alone).
Even if I don’t believe it.
And if a thought of “But it’s too hard” or “You’re not good enough” pops into my head then I challenge it.
Yes, writing is hard. But you CAN do it. You’ve done it before (lots of times). You’ve got this!
Some days it’s harder than other to shut the negative messages up, but I think it’s helping – slowly.
Whether you’re a writer or not, I’m sure you sometimes have days where your own self-talk is sabotaging you. What do you tell yourself when you need encouragement? Does it help you?
Anyway… enough procrastination via blog post. Now it’s time to write. But it’s okay, because I can.