The Origin

Writing has always been a safe space to express how I’m feeling about myself, a person, or a situation. I use it to break down different ideas I may have behind the subject and find a way to express my feelings thoroughly and wholly, allowing them to be whatever they need to be. I would make it a point to practice honesty through my writing and that would help me discover the root of a problem or the reason for my happiness. So the same way the feelings varied is the same way the person writing varied. In my own little way, I practiced awareness.

So what happened to my writing when I made this blog? Well, I started writing for myself, and then I started writing for everyone else. I had people dm’ ing telling me they felt seen and heard. I had others telling me to upload more frequently and share more because they loved it. Honestly, everything in me was beaming with excitement. I thought to myself « People really like my work ». It wasn’t something I saw possible but it was happening. It was actually happening.

As I continued on this journey, posting little things here and there I lost a part of why I started writing. I was experiencing a form of writer’s block and for a writer, it’s the most devastating thing that could ever happen. I felt like the world was coming to an end. I had lost my outlet and it felt like I was suffocating but once I paid closer attention… the suffering had started way before.

I decided to take a break and wait until I felt like sharing again. It’s not like I had lost ideas or wouldn’t write again. I was burnt out.

Being burnt out meant that I didn’t have the energy to start writing again. Being burnt out meant that I didn’t have the ability to bring my ideas to fruition. I was suffering creatively and it forced await.

Within a lot of our passions, we give our all to our work. We work and work and work until we can work no more, then, we go to sleep and start all over again. There’s a passion for it. Suddenly, one day the very thing that brought us joy… is now a burden. Waking up and the very thing that made you smile has become such a trying task in your life. No inspiration, no motivation, no passion.

Often, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror to address the core of whatever is going on. We have to ask ourselves why we began doing the work in the first place. Why we began painting. Why we began photography. Why we began a particular business. After that, you get to the nitty-gritty details of why you do what you do and what could be causing the discomfort.

For me, that meant figuring out why and who I was writing for.

My return to blogging came almost a year later and I couldn’t be happier.

I now know why I write. I write for people to know they aren’t alone in life. I write to remind you and me that there is light at the end of the tunnel and if you can’t see that light, dig a new tunnel. I write to remind myself that it’s isn’t always that hard. I write to validate the feelings of others and myself. I write to give a voice for feelings and thoughts outside the body. I write because language is important. I write because words are important. I write for introspection. I write because I want to do this work.

What do you do when you feel burnt out? How do you come back to your passion?