I have to admit that I’ve been pretty proud of myself since I came home from the writer’s conference I attended in late July. Because at that conference, I made a commitment to God and myself that I would spend time writing at least 500 words every day and that I would publish two blog posts each week on a regular schedule. I’ve been trucking along ever since making good on my promise, and it’s felt good to be so consistent.
But two weeks ago, I lost my coveted Blog Planner, which included the topics I planned to blog on through the end of the year, all the notes from my Saturday morning brainstorming sessions, the notes on my book idea, and my calendar. What was once a well-thought-out plan for the remainder of 2015 was suddenly a blank slate. Again. And I’ve had to start over.
Thankfully, I wrote the posts for last week before the Blog Planner disappeared, but I had done nothing towards writing posts for this week. And as if my brain had erased all of its contents as soon as I dumped them onto the pages of my Blog Planner, I couldn’t pull anything from the warehouse of my mind to recreate those ideas.
Since Thursday, I’ve been living with a pretty big dose of anxiety, wondering what I would write about today and how I will ever get back on track. And then it occurred to me. I’m in this pinch not because I’m lazy, or because I’ve thrown in the towel, or because I just don’t feel like writing anymore. I’m in this pinch because I hit a pot hole. An unexpected bump in the road. And it occurred to me that possibly it might be a good idea to cut myself some slack and take a deep breath.
So I’m taking the week off from blogging, and I’m shifting my focus to putting together a new Blog Planner and to re-developing my calendar for the balance of the year. I spent some time this morning brainstorming and mapping out a plan for the month of October, and I’m already feeling better about the fact that I lost so much creative inventory two weeks ago. As Kory told me, “The good news is that your brain came up with those ideas once already. They’re still there. You just need to give yourself the space to think of them again.”
So as I sign off for the week, I can’t help but ask you this question:
What thing might you need to put down this week to give yourself the space to deal with a pot hole?
I don’t know what it is, but I bet it’s something.
So be kind to yourself.
Cut yourself some slack.
Take a deep breath.
And give yourself some space to deal with the unexpected pot holes that have come your way.
I’ll see you next Sunday as I launch a new series of cooking posts I’m pretty excited about called The Sunday Stew. And then I’ll be back to a regular posting schedule of Mondays and Thursdays (with a back-up copy of my Blog Planner tucked safely away for a rainy day).
Until next week,
Jennifer
