Just write. It’s what all the published writers say. Your writing doesn’t have to be perfect, usually follows closely after. I know I’ve written a lot of imperfect things over the years which is why I’ve been so inconsistent in my writing. When my words don’t feel good enough I tend to disconnect myself from writing.
I started this blog about a year ago and by started I mean my husband added me to his wordpress account, I created a name, found a picture for the header, picked fonts, and a color scheme. For an entire year this blog has been unpublished and untouched. If I remember correctly, part of the reason I let it go to the wayside was I didn’t think the font was good enough and it was too much work to figure out how to change it.
The phrase “it doesn’t have to be perfect,” has never been a comfortable space for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not think that I am a producer of all things perfect. I am well aware of my imperfections but I have a hard time accepting and moving past them so that I can accomplish my goals.
I realize we all have to start somewhere and that writing isn’t always about saying the perfect or right things all the time. I do understand we have to write to become better at writing. Maya Angelou wrote, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”. Well, I’d like to say I know better when it comes to this writing life but I still don’t. And, I think that has to be okay.
If I want to be a writer, which despite my lack of effort these days I truly do want to be, I must allow myself to become vulnerable to being imperfect. I have to give myself the grace God freely gives to me even though I’m far from deserving. I must humble myself and lean into the fact that perfection only exists in the hands of the one who takes my weaknesses and uses them for His glory.
Therefore, my goal should have nothing to do with being validated. Instead, I should call to mind the reason I wanted to start this blog was so I could share stories and testimonies of all Jesus has done in these 33 years of mine. So that’s my goal, to write and hopefully inspire, encourage and show you that a procrastinating, caregiving, crossfitting, lover of being grammatically correct, social media addict can still be used to fight the good fight.
