There's a common phenomenon that happens when people get into blogging: loss of motivation. Demotivation can happen for any number of reasons. Maybe one feels exposed and is in constant fear of judgment. Maybe a crippling pandemic broke out, with 50% of the world's population under lockdown. Maybe one has even been a victim of personal hardships, perhaps the loss of a loved one.
For me, all of the above. On one hand, I faced self-doubt.
"My ideas are so uninteresting"
"Who cares about any of this anyway?"
On the other hand, I faced uncertainty.
"Is my family going to be safe?"
"Are we ever going to go back to normal?"
Overshadowing all that was having to face the reality of my dad's losing battle with cancer. A great man and a beautiful father -- gone way too soon and taken way too quickly.
2020 was quite literally a hell of a year, and I think I'm finally ready for a fresh start. Or at least ready to attempt one. Hardships will always come and go, and people will never cease to judge us. To get over all that, I hear it's important to recall why one started writing in the first place.
First and foremost, I write because it is an effective way to clear my racing mind. Always on the move. Always wandering. Always filled with ideas. With dialogue. With dreams. Just these few paragraphs have already been successfully therapeutic. Writing is also an effective way to slow down and reflect on my life. To study accomplishments and failures. After all...
"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates
From now on, I commit to writing more consistently. I commit to writing for myself. For starters, I learned a simple tip from Ernest Hemingway:
"You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know."
So here goes:
2021 is a new year; new years are for new beginnings.
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