So I've been quiet for a while.
Firstly, I would like to apologize for that. Secondly, I'll tell you why. I just didn't feel like it.
Now, that’s a good enough reason on the surface of it, but I'll explain anyway because it actually is a little deeper. I have content, I do. There are several posts sitting in my drafts folder in various stages of completion and I could very easily churn content. However, I found myself hesitating to hit the "Publish" button. While these pieces of writing were exclusively my thoughts and opinions, I didn't feel connected to them, and to publish them as my truth felt...inauthentic.
So I decided to take some time, reflect.
I realized that while these were my words, it did not sound like my voice. There's a story I'm writing, a story within me, that I'm trying to share with the world and these words felt disconnected from that story at that time. I emphasize this because at one time they did fit, and they may once again fit the narrative at some point in the future. Or not.
The point is that I needed to take some time to rediscover the story I'm telling. Some time of introspection was required, and to do that I needed to ignore the (external) pressures of regularity.
External pressures are often a good thing, they push you to achieve things you sometimes wouldn't otherwise. Other times, they may push you past the point of exhaustion into dangerous territory where your expression is no longer governed so much by your truth as by these external forces. At this point, it is important to stop, reassess, reconnect with your individuality, reconnect with your story.
This is not the easiest thing to do. One of the toughest struggles I faced was the feeling that I was missing out on something. That the world was somehow passing me by whilst I lingered in this place of reflection. I wasn't doing what I love, I wasn't living life. These are all valid anxieties that I had to work through.
There's a simple mantra that I have that helps me be less anxious, one that I hope everyone can adopt
Better to miss out on the world, than let the world miss out on you.
We each have a genuine, authentic, unique story in us. A gift, a purpose. A story. Let's tell it.