*Clears cobwebs and dusts the space*
Hi fam! Been a hot minute in here…
I’m not quite sure how to begin this post, but I guess it’s safe to start with some pleasantries. So, here’s me wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I know it’s overly belated with a quarter of the year behind us already, but it seems fitting for the first post of the year.
It’s been over 9 months of being away, and it feels like forever. I did make an emergency appearance sometime in October in a bid to rescue what seemed like a sinking ship, but that wasn’t enough to break the resistance that plagued me.
For perspective, a baby conceived when I last published an actual post has been born. Also, in that same timeframe, we lost the long-reigning Queen Elizabeth, Liz Truss went into the books as the shortest-serving minister of the United Kingdom, Elon Musk acquired Twitter, Nigerians witnessed the most ridiculous polls in the history of the country’s democracy (more of that in another post), Messi finally won the world cup with Argentina, Manchester United won a trophy, and I almost got married. Okay, the last one was a joke… but you get the point.
The Writer’s Enemy
In the post from October, I mentioned that my absence from this space wasn’t pre-planned. It just happened that I skipped a few Sundays. Then I gradually slipped into an indefinite hiatus, convincing myself I needed the break. Well, maybe I did need the break, given that I wasn’t in the best place at the time, and I felt a little burnt out too.
However, while I sought to solve one problem (lack of inspiration), I developed another. For every week I skipped, I experienced an extra layer of force from every writer’s ultimate enemy — what Steven Pressfield refers to as “the Resistance” in his book, “The War of Art”.
At the start, it kinda felt good not having to bother about delivering a blog post amongst all the other things on my plate at the time, and I was convinced that I’d return shortly with renewed inspiration. That wasn’t quite the case. As the weeks progressed, the resistance grew, and so did my concerns.
The primary aim of this blog is to communicate value. But beyond that, I also derive intrinsic value from putting words together and writing in general. Not having to do that for so long didn’t feel too pleasant.
Picking the Pieces…
I am generally in a much better place now, and even though I cannot guarantee that I found the renewed inspiration I sought, I have just enough to reconcile my intentions with my actions, just enough to break through the fierce grip of resistance and show up here again.
In that post from October, I ended with a wishful remark that was supposed to spur my return. It apparently didn’t work as intended, so I’ll try again… “This is me dusting my notepads, refilling my ink, and crawling my way back into the art of writing.”