Sep 30, 2015 / Inspiration

You Are Enough

What if the next time we sat down to write, we didn’t worry about being interesting, we didn’t worry about being liked, and we didn’t worry about being reblogged?

I recently told a friend of mine — a single mom who works in the healthcare industry — that she should write a blog about her amazing life. Her response to me was, “It’d be the most boring blog in the world. I’m nothing special.” That’s a direct quote. Nothing special? She’s raising three kids on her own, works in an ER in a massive city hospital, speaks three languages, and she studied opera in college. If she’s not special, I don’t know who is.

Her response really surprised me, and it reminded me of someone from my past who was the flip side of the self-confidence coin.

In my early 20s, I was taking a class with an outrageously flamboyant teacher. She found her life so interesting and loved telling us wild stories of the minutiae of her day. She could probably tell a story about boiling water and make it enjoyable. One day, after making us roar with laughter, she shrugged at us in disbelief and shrieked, “Stories just happen to me!”

My mouth dropped open. She really thought that more stories “happened” to her than to other people.

“Anything that gets your blood pumping is probably worth doing.”
Hunter S. Thompson

I was taken aback by the hubris. It was such an absurd statement because…well…stories happen to everyone. Did my teacher lead a more interesting life than my nurse friend? Nope. What made her a great storyteller is that she saw herself as the fascinating main character in the wild story of her life.

And she was right. But guess what? We all are.

The most frequent question I field from bloggers is, “How do I get more people to read my blog?” I suspect they want the answer to be something SEO-related, and I hate to disappoint, but my answer is almost always, “Pick a topic you want to talk about. Choose subjects that you can’t wait to write about, whether a million people will read your blog, or just your best friend.”

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
Albert Schweitzer

What if there were no pressure to be interesting, or wild, or unique, or marketable? What if the main ingredient in the recipe for a great blog post is simply the exuberance to share yourself? I bet we could excite readers just as much by writing about finding a killer sale at Marshalls, as we could about winning the latest season of Project Runway.

There is such a divide between a story that needs to be told, and a story that reads as if it were written out of obligation. The writers that I admire the most are those who can write about any topic, and draw me in with their exuberance. A writer’s moxie makes any story magnetic.

I am drawn in by their passion, not by their perfection.

What if the next time we sat down to write, we didn’t worry about being interesting, we didn’t worry about being liked, and we didn’t worry about being reblogged. What if, when we opened up a new post in our editors, we started by thinking, “I cannot wait to tell you this story…I might explode if I don’t share this with you.”

If we love our stories, our stories will be loved.

When you sit down to write, before you put pen to paper (or cursor to screen), think, “I can’t wait to tell this story!” Inject that feeling into the whole text. Sometimes, I think, “You’re not going to believe this…!” while I write a story.

Come up with your own variation on the theme, and write with energy and excitement.

When you read through your older posts, can you feel the difference between the posts you were enthusiastic about writing, and those you wrote in order to hit a deadline?

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  1. If I have to passionately write on a particular topic, I have to go through it almost thrice before I get it published. I write on a paper, then edit a little and then type into the computer. When I write to kill the deadline, however, everything gets messy. I don’t know what it lacks – but I always think I have not been able to do justice to myself.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Everything written here about happiness being the key to success but its hard to aim at happiness and not look at success. Some of us enjoy writing only because they can see themselves on the path to success.

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  8. I love the point about being the main character in our own story. Too many of us try to play something else and allow others to take the lead. But if we realized, as you have pointed out, that we are just as interesting as the next person, we would all share our stories proudly. Great reminder.

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  9. Modified version below*
    Everything written here about happiness being the key to success is true but also the fact that it’s hard to aim at happiness and to not have expectation of success. Some enjoy writing only because they can see themselves on the road to success. I think it’s more of a loop…with happiness comes success and with success comes happiness. But then again success is achieving the pre defined goals and our goals are constantly changing after each success. Meaning that with every success, we are happy, yes, but then a new goal is set because we want to be more successful and with that comes more happiness.
    I believe more in the pursuit of it. That is what life is about.

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  11. Robyn, this was exactly what I needed to read right now. Just the other day I actually said to a friend that my greatest fear/concern about my blog is that I won’t be interesting enough. A sad commentary. I have found that I have a tendency to compare myself and my posts to others that I admire and who appear to have very productive blogs. This does create mental hurdles. Your comment about being enough is a wonderful reminder to me that I started blogging not to compete but to create and to tell stories. I even have a picture of an American Indian Storyteller to remind me of this. I appreciate your insight into the perpetual challenges of blogging…like so many things it is about getting out of our heads and into our hearts! That’s what I must remember.

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  12. I really enjoyed this. It is 100% true. Everyone’s life is so different and so detailed in millions of ways. We all have a unique piece to our puzzle. Some like your teacher can story tell a little better then most and make excitement out of almost anything (boiling water haha). Some of us, however, could have the most interesting thing in the world happen to us and we still wouldn’t realize it. We are all special in our own individuals ways. That is why we were created so differently. We all have a story to tell.

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  14. It’s always so nice to receive the gentle reminder, “You are enough.” You are you. And that is all you have to be. Thank you for writing this article and putting it out for there for myself and others to read, ruminate, and reflect on. As an artist (drawer, really–artist is a bit fancy sounding), I’m constantly plagued by this fear that others will be bored by my work or find it terribly cliche and twee. And it’s hard to create when you think that way! You can’t expect to produce quality work when you’re constantly in your head, echoing negative feedback before you’ve even finished. However, lately I’ve found it really helpful to just sit and repeat in my head a few times, “You’re not making this for them. You are making it for you and because you are a bird and you have a song to sing.”

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  15. I’m new to this whole blog thing, but i whole heartedly agree with you. Its time to read stories that share life and all it has to offer, thanks for putting us back on the foundation for which we read

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I follow this advice and still find I am not on enough or blogging enough to keep an audience going! I look forward to the day when I can blog more often about all of the things I am so passionate about. Thanks for the post!

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  17. Great post – thanks. I’ve been blogging about my round the world trip with my girlfriend. I’m running quite a bit behind (for various reasons) but occasionally I write and post out of sequence purely because I feel like I have to get a particular experience out there and it can’t wait. I find them the most favourite posts to write, re-read and they tend to be the most successful posts too. Thanks.

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      1. Lots of material! Strangely though, I’ve really enjoyed the act of writing but don’t know what to do when I get home. I’m really happy with the blog but as our travel ends, so does my flow of posts… Maybe your post came around just in time…

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  19. This is such a good post. I sometimes have to remind myself of this when coming up with blog posts. I can’t be afraid to write what I believe in or more frankly to believe in myself. Awesome!

    Lhicksblog.wordpress.com

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  20. This is so insightful, I’m working on my first post on here and have been experiencing writers block, but after reading this I think I might just have my first post completed by tomorrow. Thank you Robyn!

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  21. Thanks Robyn for sharing this story. This is specially important to people like me who have just started blogging and are very nervous. I am really feeling like a writer after reading your story. Thanks a lot

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    1. You are a writer! The nice thing about writing is that you don’t need certification or a license…you just need a pen 🙂 and the confidence to call yourself a writer.

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  24. How right you are! This is just what I needed to hear. I’ve just recently started blogging again after a long break, which was mainly driven by a lack of confidence in my writing and the doubt that anyone would want to read it. I’m still plagued by these doubts but have started writing again because that’s what I NEED to do. I just have to stop looking to my stats for validation. Thanks so much for the encouragement to continue!

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  26. I first started blogging a few weeks ago as I felt I really wanted to say something and at that time there was no one to listen. I’m happy I did as this is what I do. I just write about things I wanted to share but didn’t have the opportunity to. Thank you Robyn.

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  27. Wow, really nice to read this – inspiring to write more and more.. Sometimes i think, what i write will it be read or what? Kind of puts me down. Just started bloggin since couple of weeks and it actually feels good. Thank you for a great post.. 🙂 Re-blogging with your permission in my inspiration list. Hope that’s ok with you.

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  29. This is so true. The MOST I’ve ever posted has been in the past month–and even then I got slammed with work and just couldn’t keep up with all the assignments. It has been gratifying to move into a larger “pool” of readers, but I realized that I mostly write for my daughter. If she is the only one who ever reads my blog, it is enough. She doesn’t always read me now, but I know someday my blog will connect her to my life and the memories left behind.

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    1. This blog post really made me think about what I want to write and it was helping me narrow my focus, but your comment hit the nail on the head for me! Most of the times when I have things swirling around my head that I want to put in writing for my boys and that’s exactly what I’m going to do now. So, thank you for sharing that you mostly write for your daughter 🙂

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      1. Thanks Chrissy and Robyn. It is a legacy far richer than jewelry. My mom passed away in 2006. Although I know a lot about her life, I wish I knew it ALL because it helps me to figure out the holes, hurts and joys.

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