Courage is Showing Up

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The last thing you want to do is sometimes exactly what you should do.

When you’re facing the blank page, it can feel like you’re pushing a boulder made of knives up a glacier. It’s the easiest thing in the world to walk away and try again another day. Sometimes that’s right. Sometimes you’re beaten and battered and need to regroup.

But most times you need to push that fucking boulder with all your might.

The only way things get done is by doing them. It sounds trite. It is trite. But it’s also true. We can wax poetic about inspiration and preparation, but at the end of the day, work is completed by those who show up and do the work.

Showing up is most of the battle. It’s also the scariest thing in the world. Facing fear means recognizing that you can fail. Worse, it means acknowledging that you can be hurt. That you will be hurt.

It’s an awful feeling.

But that’s what makes you brave. When you start - when you show up - you are saying to creation that you are willing to contribute. That your work matters. That you’ll face down all the naysayers and challenges and take them on. They’ll win. They’ll win a lot.

But one day they won’t. One day you’ll win.

And then we all win.

You Need Your Own Space

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It’s not selfish.

It’s not being pretentious.

It’s just the truth.

If you’re creating something, you need your own space.

There’s only so much you can do surrounded by the noise and needs of your loved ones. Be it in your home, office, or general public, there’s a lot that can distract you from getting in the right mindset to create. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to work this way. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. But ideally you need a place - mental of physical - that you can call your own and get shit done.

It can be anywhere or anything. It can even be in public. But it has to be yours.

I get my best writing done in a quiet room, or a coffee shop. Why? Because I’m able to tune everything else out and do what I need to do.

Find that space. Be a little selfish about it. It’s the right thing to do.