Write Often

I absolutely love writing. I've been doing it for a long time and I honestly cannot imagine a life without me reading and writing almost every single day.

I wouldn't even be able to start explaining how I felt when I just wasn't able to write for a while. Then I decided to take action. And things worked out way better than expected.

When I got into my #project50 on Instagram, I made up my mind to post everyday. The agenda was to get better at photography and just generally create work I myself would like to see. Over the course of those 50 days, I realized I was paying equal, if not more, attention to writing the captions. That should not have come as a surprise because writing is my addiction.

This blog is my passion project and it was making me feel really weird that I wasn't able to write even one blog post a week - rather, barely one a week. It was an absolute shame because the blog was started for me to write about what I wanted to write about, but along the way, when collaborations started coming my way, I kinda got off the track of the topics I wanted to write about, and started writing more about the fun and interesting new things that came up for me to collaborate with.

Now, I'm at the stage where I am still taking up collaborations, but I've learnt to compartmentalize. Atleast, I am still learning. I have not entirely 'learnt' anything yet, because you never really stop learning anything.

That's where writing comes up again. After my #project50 I started being able to write again. I am so grateful about that because I was in such a rut.

It was the daily writing, albeit just on Instagram, that made me able to write again. And I have finally been able to get back on track. From not being able to write on this blog for months at a stretch, I am (not too ambitiously) trying to post every week. And you know what? It's working. I have been able to.

It's because I started with baby steps. I didn't even know if I would be able to get out of that rut but just posting a small paragraph everyday on social media made me feel I could do a weekly blog post. And I can.

I will continue to do so.

Nothing is impossible.

Photo Credit - npr.org

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Create Good Habits

It is often easier to continue doing the same things you've been doing for a while. But is that really the best thing to do for yourself? Doing the same things everyday puts you in a sort of comfort zone, a sort of rut that it is just easy to stay in, because it is what you know. It is a habit, a series of habits, in fact.

I'll give you a task to do that'll make things so much clearer for you. The first step might take a few days, or a maximum of a week since it would be good for you to do it on weekends also.
You can thank me later.

Firstly, you must observe.

When you start to observe things around you, you realise how many things you do, what those things are, how much time you spend on each, and whether they contribute to your growth or not.
This requires noting down what you do. Every time you start a new task, make a note of what time you started it. When it ends, make a note of what you did in that time span, and how much time it took you to do so.

Regular readers of this blog know that I have not been able to write here regularly. I intend to post once a week, and I haven't even able to do that.

Writing one blog post in seven days is really not a big ask, and I'm the first person to accept it.
It's only after I tried this myself, am I able to write. I have now set aside scheduled time to write blogposts, and I actually have next week's post scheduled too. It gives me an immense amount of satisfaction that I am now starting to create quality work every single week. This is just the start but I know that I am doing it and that is the difference it makes when you start observing what you do with your time.

So now you have the observation bit down. You've​ made your notes. Now is the time for you to understand what to do with it. Now is the time that you make a plan of what you want to accomplish.

One by one, start making time for your goals.

The first thing on my list is writing a weekly blogpost that adds value to my readers and provides valuable information. The tabs on top are the topics I cover in this blog and I want to add something valuable to each tab. My goal is to make this blog a repository of valuable information across all those topics.
Working towards that necessiates writing regularly. Once writing a blogpost becomes a habit, once I automatically start creating, I will go on to the next habit on my list.

The beauty of this is that it counts on natural human nature to form habits, and one habit at a time is not a big change from your schedule.
But, and this is the magic, those habits slowly add up, and those multiple new habits that you have created just change up your day and suddenly you are more creative and productive that you ever knew.

It's a slow process, and sometimes it'll be hard, but nothing that was worth it ever came easy.
Easy come, easy go. We don't want that.

Photo Credit: pinterest

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Start Before You're Ready

 
I am guilty of this. Of waiting for things to be perfect. So many times that I have not published blog posts because I felt they weren't perfect. I needed it to be perfect before I hit that 'Publish' button. That drove me to my misery for a long time.

But then I realised that I was giving in to something that a lot of us fall prey to. And then I went back and thought about it.

Let's rewind a little.

I have been writing since I was a kid. I never really cared about how good or bad it was, I just wrote. That is how I got better; at the stage where today I am proud of myself in terms of how much I have grown as a poet. I can write a multiple page poem, haiku, quartets, and slam poetry too. I have done well, even though not many people have witnessed the growth. That did not come about with ceaseless editing and harsh self criticism. It came about because I gave myself the freedom to write all sorts of rhymes. And then those rhymes got better.

However, I did not give myself the same freedom when it came to blogposts.
Why?
After much introspection, I have realised that it is in large part due to my poetry being for my eyes only. This blog, as Google tells me, is read by people all over the world. On an average, over 10,000 unique visitors read this blog on a monthly basis. That froze me up. I started thinking I was accountable to those people. But why? Those people came because of what I wrote to begin with. If they didn't like it, they wouldn't have come, they wouldn't have read this, they wouldn't have stayed and come back for more.
But they did. They did for a reason. I was adding value in some way that appealed to them. SO I have no reason to be afraid. I know I can only get better with time. I can only get better with practice. Constant practice.
And if I procrastinate and if I hold myself back from putting up a new blog post, how will I achieve
that constant practice?

So this post is as much for me as it is for you, if you ever feel like you are not good enough, just put yourself out there.
For me, it is this blog, which I adore, and people seem to like. For you, it could be a new venture, a job search, a new relationship, an ambitious project - anything that you know will make your life better, but you keep putting it off because you're afraid that you're not ready. Because you think you should wait till the situation is perfect.

Nothing ever is perfect. So just try.
You are already better than the millions who didn't even try.
You are strong, you are talented, you are passionate.
All we need is to believe that we can do it.
All we need is to have faith in ourselves.
All we need is to stop hesitating before we push that 'Publish' button in our lives.
Start before you're ready.
That's the only way to be ready.

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Your Priority Should Be You

Prioritize yourself.

Often, we are too caught up in completing all the tasks on our list that we forget to make time for ourselves. But we must do things for ourselves before we try to do things for other people. There are two reasons why this is so important.

Firstly, the fact that you need to make yourself happy because you deserve to be prioritized.
You deserve everything and more. 
You deserve the big successes and the little joys. 
You deserve the struggle required to get there, because if success comes too easy, it doesn't last very long. 
You deserve experiences, good and bad, because that's what shapes you as a person. 
You deserve everything and more. 
Because you're worth it.


The fact is, trial by fire is a real thing, and it allows you to rise stronger. and it is only by giving yourself time that you can be stronger. Time to reflect, time to learn, time to experience, time to learn and imbibe from those experiences.
Time to love yourself.

Secondly, and equally importantly, the fact that you do want to take on those responsibilities and help out the people in your life. You need to sort out yourself before you can sort other people out.

When you can make yourself happy, you will have more joy to spread.
When you love yourself, you will have more love to give.
When you can go out of your way for yourself, you will be able to make an effort for your loved ones too.

It is not about other people, however important they are to you. It is about prioritizing yourself and loving yourself. It is when you treat yourself positively, will it become natural for you to get positive vibes from the universe as well.

The change must be a conscious decision. You need to love yourself first.

In conclusion, I'd like to leave you with this. Maybe print it out and put it on your wall. 

Remind yourself everyday how awesome you are.

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