Keep Moving: Looking Ahead to Year 2023

Today marks the start of the third year writing for this blog site. For the past three years I’ve learned so much about myself through writing and sharing my words with the world.

This year l put out some of my favorites pieces to date. At the same time, I faced some of the toughest times creatively. I came to a point where I felt stuck, completely sucked dry of any ideas. I felt burnt out on the one thing I love to do the most. As a writer, it is the scariest feeling to feel like you have nothing left to say. There is no doubt in my mind that writing is what I want to pursue, therefore I vowed to myself not to quit. I think the first step in following any personal passion is to be your own biggest supporter. When your efforts seem futile, you have to keep moving.

Oftentimes I find myself revisiting and reading over works of mine as a reminder to myself of my potential. In the name of recognizing my own personal growth through my writing journey thus far, I want to take a look back and proudly showcase some of my favorite pieces I have written within the past year.

I think it’s fitting that one of the first times I felt truly proud of a work that I put out came earlier this year when I wrote about my love for writing.

As mentioned previously, this year met challenges that I had yet to face so intensely before. Just when I thought my creativity was all used up, I decided the only way I could accurately portray such daunting feelings is to write about them, so I used them as inspiration and turned them into one of my favorites pieces I have released to date.

https://faith-it-til-you-make-it.com/2022/08/31/writers-block/

The dichotomy of these two works is distinct, but I now realize this is the reality for many creatives.

Since the start of my pursuance of writing, and this year especially, I turned to words directly from various writers in order to stay inspired and driven to keep moving with my passion.

In the notes app on my phone, I keep a list of quotes that I feel I can relate to or that motivate me. These are just the quotes I added to the list shortly before the new year.

Inspiration is all around us; in the busy streets, on our televisions. It’s potent in every melody of the songs we play and in the lines of every book we read. It’s abundant in all aspects of art, we just have to open our eyes and recognize it. I personally am guilty of not searching for it enough. This year, I owe it to myself to seek inspiration. I will read more, observe more. Only then can I write to my best ability.

As a firm believer in manifestation, in every article I have ever written for New Year’s Day, I typically speak on my goals for the coming year. I’ve come to learn that goal setting or the trendy idea of “New Year’s resolutions” are merely wishful thinking without progressive action.

While we all have the capacity for our words to become our truth, sometimes the things we wish to manifest for ourselves are material possessions we expect to acquire immediately. These expectations only lead to despondency and reduced ambition. As of recent I’ve found solace in positive affirmations. In your daily life, you must speak with a positive attitude as if you already have everything you could ever dream of. Rather than expect to receive anything you want, truly believe that you deserve it and actively put your efforts into making it become a possible reality.

You can’t put a measurement to success, nor can you compare each of your own achievements to those of someone else. There is no timeline to when you will see your wildest dreams come true. All you can do is hold yourself accountable under your personal goals and pursue them with tenacity.

2022 taught me about patience and approaching each day with optimism. I can’t be certain what the future holds for me and my journey through writing, but I do know I am full of creativity and with it I will achieve big things someday. Until then, I just have to keep moving.

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Happy New Year! Here’s to a happy and prosperous 2023! 🎆🎇

Writer’s Block

Her mind is blank, but if these walls could talk for her, only then might you fathom the extent of her suffering. In the dead of night, they watch as she wakes gasping for air as if a cinder block has come crashing down onto her chest. While on solid ground she’s falling, losing her grip by the second, slipping farther while her aching fingertips are desperately trying to hold on.

Wandering aimlessly, she hasn’t a clue what she’s searching for. She’s trapped in a mirror maze of pure nothingness, accompanied only by several of her own helpless reflections staring back at her. She scours every corner, but amidst the flashing lights she’s lost all sense of direction.

The walls of this glass box she’s in cave, and through the thickening air she screams, yet nobody can hear her. All that’s on the tip of her tongue is the saltiness of her tears. She’s tormented by the the deafening silence inside her head.

What a beautiful tragedy it is for a writer’s heart to carve its own wounds. She lies awake on nights like these, tossing and turning, listening for distant murmurs. The closer they get, the clearer they sound and she can begin to slowly stitch her heart back together.

She remains restless until her heart is woven by the strings of all the words she’s for so long been trying to find. The mere presence of a single thought reinvigorates her entire being. At last she can breathe again.

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As this final day of August was nearing, I feared I had nothing to say. I was experiencing the most intensely horrifying feeling any writer could have: writer’s block. I always thought there was no feasible way to put in to words the feeling of not knowing what to write about, as someone it should come so easily to. But, I thought, what if there was? And so, as I lay restless in bed one late night, I typed a list of words to describe all that I was feeling: panic, confusion, frustration, and so on. In doing so, suddenly my mind was filled with constellations of letters forming all the right words to give you this melodramatic tale.