#Discontent July 9
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I got asked what is my writing routine.
I usually write the first draft of my post 5-7 days ahead of when I publish it. Each morning I edit (not a great skill of mine) the draft and attempt to turn it into something worthy of posting. Then after that I work on a new draft. When I am clicking it takes about 45 minutes to do both.
That ritual keeps me with 5-7 drafts to consider each morning for my post. I like it for one big reason. Having drafts available becomes an insurance policy when the amount of time I have in the mornings is tight.
Well the morning of July 4th I became DISCONTENT with the act of writing a new draft.
I tried to force myself to write something new but I kept staring at a blank page. I then realized I needed to put into practice some lessons from last month’s 30 Day Challenge. I listened to a couple of TED Talks about self-awareness and each offered up some valuable tips.
One idea from last month stood out to me.
First I had to accept it wasn’t a lack of inspiration that was holding me up from typing it was something a little deeper.
My challenge was to answer some tough “what” questions about why I was feeling DISCONTENT about writing. What is bugging me? What am I fretting about? What is occupying my mind?
I have learned that identifying the what is more helpful than the why. I already knew the why. I was DISCONTENT but what was the cause?
As I reflected I immediately began to blame others and invited myself to a pity party. I concocted that all of my DISCONTENT was the fault of others. Requests to do this and do that from others. Dealing with a number of unexpected home owner issues. It was all somebody else or something else it was not me. I had become the poster child for what Brene Brown describes as a Shitty First Draft or Stormy First Draft.
You can abbreviate that as SFD.
The lessons learned last month is the answer to what is causing your feelings is rooted with you not others. I acquiesced that blaming others was not going to eliminate my DISCONTENT and that began the “rumble” process as described in the book Rising Strong by Brene Brown.
The “rumble” is the middle part of a 3 step solution that starts with the reckoning, moves to the rumble, and concludes with the revolution.
In my head I began to edit my SFD story related to my DISCONTENT. When that reckoning moves to the rumble it is not pretty. Brene has a quote in the book that says
“you’re too far in to turn around and not close enough to the end to see the light.”
My new draft did not include the pity party just me trying to own it. I began to take inventory of what role I had in how I responded to new requests. I began to come up a plan to solve my home owner issues. After I had done the edits my feeling of DISCONTENTMENT subsided.
So that experience became a draft and today a post. DISCONTENT ended my writers block.
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