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

    That statement reminds to just relax and let the words flow. Thanks for the encouragement and reminder that ‘I am truly enough!” 😉

    Liked by 4 people

  4. I have had co-workers find my blog and be surprised at how I write, they don’t know the real me at work and my personality comes out more when I write. I write as me, no BS, if someone finds it not their cup of team they can stop reading. Great post 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  10. Very interesting post! I am brand new to blogging and still figuring out how much of myself I’m willing to share. I want to share everything, but find myself worrying about what’s interesting and what’s not. Reading this has me thinking that I can be as self indulgent as I life- it’s MY blog!

    Liked by 5 people

  11. On some level I’ve been having this argument with myself for months now. It’s really exciting and cool when someone puts into words what has eluded me and you have done just that with this post. How very liberating.

    Liked by 4 people

  15. Wow, this so encouraging. Thanks so much for the inspiration. I’ve definitely been feeling uninteresting and uncreative… but you’re so right! When people are interested in what they are sharing, they are automatically interesting themselves. Thank you 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  16. “I cannot wait to tell you this story…I might explode if I don’t share this with you.”
    This is what I feel everytime I am about to start writing. Thank you for the very inspirative blog.

    Liked by 3 people

  17. It’s the posts that feel I feel like I rushed in order to get published before the end of the day that feel forced and not my best effort. But on the other hand, the posts I write purely out of impulse and enthusiasm without a little bit of logic about my audience tend to fall flat.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. I don’t assume anyone is going to read any of my posts. I doubt I’m any more interesting than the next person. I’m just giving myself an outlet, lord knows I need one.

    Liked by 4 people

  20. I am also new to blogging, but i do love to write. The content i love to write about is mostly content other people may find a bit objectionable, and that’s alright. However i do have a couple of fairly serious posts coming up in the near future. Thanks for the inspiration to continue writing about what i love writing about.

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  29. It’s so refreshing to read someone who thinks so similarly about this. I have always loved writing but I find myself sitting in front of my computer wondering if anyone will ever read what I’m putting out there. It can be so frustrating to write something and have no one seem to care. I’ve been wondering lately if maybe it seems like a chore to me now because I’m trying to copy what everyone else is doing and choosing topics I just don’t really care about. This is exactly what I needed to see and I’m really excited to open up a new blog post and begin writing what I want to write. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with all of us! You’ve definitely inspired me! 🙂 My blog is stopthinkinggoplay.com if anyone would like to check it out. Thanks!

    Liked by 2 people

  30. Thank you so much for this post! It should be common sense, but we place so many restrictions on ourselves and each other about writing. We’re told we must stick to one main topic, and I feel like that is where the writing break-down happens. I like this. If it is exciting to me, it will (hopefully!) be exciting to you! I am in the process of starting my blog at songbyrdy.com and am finding that I can’t stick to simply knitting and crochet when there are so many other relatable lessons that happen during my daily life. Thanks so much for the encouragement. Even if my blog isn’t “successful” (whatever that really means), at least I will ENJOY what I am doing!

    Liked by 1 person