I'm so tired of trying.
I try a lot for you, you know. Maybe you don't know. So I'll tell you: I try hard for you. I want a shiny, polished, profound piece of writing that is deep and share worthy. So I'll come here to this place and I'll sit down on this chair and I'll set my fingers on this keyboard and then... well, most of the time nothing comes for awhile. I'm generally too scared.
So I want to say this. To you, to me, to all the people who feel the tiniest inclination that they may possibly want to put down words: write. Stop trying so hard and write. Even when you're scared -- write. Especially when you're scared -- write.
The world would like to hear what you have to say. You're important. You're valuable. Therefore your words are too. Your story is significant -- a phrase my best friend created and reminds me of all the time. She's right, of course. (She's almost always right.) Your story is significant.
I desperately believe in writing, so I've talked to a few people about it before. A lot of the time the conversation goes something like this:
Person: "I want to write."
Aliza: "Then you should write."
Person: "I'm scared to write."
Aliza: "Me too."
Person: "But you have a blog."
Aliza (cue disbelieving laughter inside of my head): "Sure, sometimes I blog. Occasionally I blog. Truthfully I'm a terrible blogger. But I'll tell you -- every time I write a post, I'm always scared to post it. Every time I write some words, I'm always scared to share them. You just write anyway. You just write through the fear."
If you need to write, please write. If you're scared to write, please write. You're most likely going to be scared because writing is vulnerable, and being vulnerable is scary, but vulnerability is brave. You just have to write anyway. You just have to write through the fear.
You have to give Fear a piece of your mind. (Even if you don't really believe it yet.) You have to say: "Fear, the words I want to say are important and valuable and significant, and I am going to write them. I don't care if those words aren't quite perfect or profound or polished or shiny. I'm going to write down how I feel. I'm going to be truthful. I'm going to write."
I'll be here cheering you on. I firmly believe everyone needs someone to root for them. Spoiler alert: I'm rooting for you.
Write on, brave writer. Write on.