4 Lessons I Learned From My First Year of Writing

In the end, it’s about the value you add to yourself and others.

I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough. Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up.

Lauren Dagle sang the lyrics above in her song, You Say.

Like Lauren, I fight the same battle.

I hear similar voices every day.

I am haunted.

I attempted to cut off some of the voices, thinking I will be free. The truth is, the voices echoed louder every day.

One day, I learned about the shame gremlins in Brene Brown's book Daring Greatly. And it changed my life.

What is your shame gremlin?

Shame gremlins shows up in my life in form of:

• I am not a good writer.
• I don’t have enough readers.
• I don’t have experience.
• I have no idea what to write about.

Awareness of the voice was the most important step in dealing with them.

Have you identified your gremlins?

Awareness changes the relationship with your negative voices

In the movie The Sixth Sense, Seal Cole finds freedom when he opens up about his dark secrets of ghosts visiting him.

Everything changes when Cole changes his relationship with his dark secrets.

He becomes aware of nature, and the reason why the ghosts were showing up.

He stopped being fearful. He starts to work with the ghosts.

When we shift our perspective by not identifying with the negative voices, then we break the barrier points that are preventing us from living our authentic, and best life.

We move from holding back to letting our voices be heard, and amplified by both ourselves, and others.

Breaking the barrier points and releasing your authentic self

1. Show up in your mind first before you show up on paper

Jeff Goins’s book You Are A Writer wouldn’t have captured this lesson any better.

Everything in life including being a writer requires that we bring ourselves on board first.

I certainly did not expect to be a writer if I was not one on the inside.

I had to show up first in my mind, and win the battle before the gremlins showed up to shove me out.

2. Clarify your reason for writing

Abraham Lincoln was very clear about his purpose. He struggled with his gremlins just like every other human.

He had suicidal thoughts due to acute depression.

He was miserable.

The voices in his head were not going to give him rest. Yet, he made one thing clear. He had to accomplish something meaningful, and important before he died.

He sighed Emancipation Proclamation just a few years before his death.

When your reason for writing is beyond money and getting followers, then you will have something to stick to even when the odds are against you.

3. Be your first reader/ fan

We all need signposts in life. The things that remind us to do things differently, to think differently, to be better humans, and to be mindful.

The foraging ants secret pheromones in their path whenever they find food.

The other ants find the quickest path to their destination by following clues left by the foraging ants.

Like the foraging ants, meaningful writing means leaving clues, signposts, reminders, and lessons for ourselves then for others.

When your biggest fan(you) gets value from your work, then the battle is already won.

In the end, it's about the value you add to yourself and others.

4. Choose how to react to the negative voices

The parable of the second arrow can be the antidote to the shame gremlins.

The negative voices or the bad situation is the first arrow. The second and the most serious arrow is our reaction.

We may not control the first arrow but the second arrow is in our hands. This is good news, right?

You have a choice to determine how to react to the voices, the “ghosts” and the shame that can come your way as a writer.

If you forget everything else, always remember that you have a choice.

Robert Guerrero teaches us the power of our reactions in his poem, The Voices In My Head.

The voices in my head Grow louder and louder Even as I fight with them I realize why I write about war Because the biggest war is with myself

As I reach for the gun To end their eerie laughs I know it will bring satisfaction So I load and release it back Squeezing the trigger slowly

Darkness engulfs me The voices stop Peace I don’t have As tears roll down your cheek Another life I have wasted along with mine

Don’t waste another life along with yours. You are a writer. Show up.