Just Start Writing: Beginning Something New

Start has been the theme of my year.  The last calendar year has been a year of reinvention and starting over for me.

I started going to school to become a coach. 

I started a coaching business. 

I started another yoga teacher training. 

I rejoined the ranks of freelance production after a two-year corporate hiatus. 

I started a podcast (more on that later). 

I started a new relationship with myself. 

I started to take inventory of my life since I’m now officially middle-aged. 

I started to play tennis again.

And then, of course, all the little starts that happen daily, like getting out of bed, making tea, getting the kids to school, prepping dinner, and doing laundry.

Start: Necessity, Inevitability, Power

In my life, the word START keeps presenting itself, and while it is still wildly difficult, I’m “beginning” to understand its necessity, inevitability, and power.

It took me 15 years to start writing this blog post. True story. 

I dream of being a writer. On my runs, or dreams, or in the middle of the night, I've crafted the next New York Times best-selling novel.  But when I physically sit down to write, I feel like I have nothing to say. 

Failing to put my pen to paper isn’t because I can’t find the time. It’s just that if I block my calendar to write on Tuesday at 10:00 am, it doesn’t mean a dose of inspiration gets invited to the party.

I have a million ideas, but nine times out of 10, I go to write about it, and nothing comes out, or an email comes in, or the kids are screaming, or breakfast isn’t cleaned up, or Instagram hasn’t been checked, or a client calls a last-minute meeting, or I didn’t get up early enough, etc. 

Since I was six (I know this because my mom kept a file of my creations for every year of my life), inspiration would strike at different points, mostly when I was heartbroken or trying to process something difficult.

These moments are familiar. They seem to find me. And when they happen, my writing can be beautiful, empowering, addictive, and unstoppable.  But those hits of magic are anything but reliable, certainly not for a weekly blog post. 

So, I am sitting down for the 463 time to write my first blog. The only thing that comes to mind is that I have to begin. There's definitely no hit of inspiration present in the room right now. Maybe that’s the lesson: Just. START. Writing.

Throughout this year of fits and starts, I’ve learned this:

The Only Way is Through It

Starting something is scary. I haven’t found a way around it, only through it.

Beginnings are Part of Life

We begin again every single moment of every day, so I might as well embrace the new.

Beginning is Part of Transition

The hardest part of starting is the transition from the end to the next beginning.

Action before Certainty

I don’t need to know what to do. I just have to do something.

Keep it Small

The “doing” of the “something” should be very small.

Be ok with Trial and Error

Starting inevitably leads to a series of trial and error.  When the error happens, begin again and again and again.

So here it is: I STARTED a blog (thank you for reading). It's 15 years late, but as Brandi Carlile would say, “Right On Time.”