Permission to Slack Off, With a Catch

Ideas for posts typically come to me in the normal course of my life. But recently I've been distracted by other life things—not the least of which was moving cross-country. For some reason, ideas didn't come naturally, and I prioritized other projects over writing (I'll be sharing them soon). Since I don't post “just to post”, I didn't post for two months.

Each week that elapsed I had a choice. I could judge myself for not posting recently. I could tell myself that I needed to develop more discipline. I could compare myself to other creators who post like clockwork even from a hospital bed. I could decide that I have writer’s block. I could worry that I finally ran out of ideas. I could think that writing about these topics isn’t my thing after all. Or I could start posting again. 

I thought all these thoughts and worried all these worries. As the weeks went by, the thoughts became more frequent. Until I decided to put them aside and sit down to write anyway.

Don’t let yourself keep regretting not starting something you meant to try ages ago. Don’t let a long—even decades-long—break stop you from picking up where you left off. Don’t let fears, self-recrimination, or the opinions of others stop you from doing something that keeps hovering in the back of your mind. The swoosh folks know what they’re talking about—sometimes you have to just do it.

Give yourself a retroactive permission slip for slacking off. But it expires… now.

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