The courage to calm down.

I was feeling out of sorts recently, dysregulated and jangly. I’d had a nightmare about something really terrible happening, and the powerless feeling I had in the dream stuck with me for days. I turned to my journal because I didn’t know what else to do, and wrote down a list of all the things I could notice around me. Cardinal singing in the pear tree. Late-season lilacs are purple. Dragonfly resting on the patio stone. This is a writing exercise I do when I need to warm up before writing... and also when I simply need to calm down.

Then, I went to the Delhi Park to hang out with a few artists in the Department of Illumination. I’ve written about them before: this is our local community arts collective, aka: a group of people who get together for creativity and joy. Community calms me down.

I didn’t write anything more than that noticing exercise, but the act of writing calmed me down enough to feel curious and get out of the house. I didn’t have any profound conversations at the park, but just being with other people changed the way I was thinking, and took me to a fun and creative place.

Creative and curious, jangly no more. Also, now I'm a squirrel.

Both writing and being in community are calming and life-affirming ways to come home to myself.

The thing is, both of these actions took courage! I needed courage to stop spinning, and to get out my notebook to write things down. And it took another dose of courage for me to get in the car and drive down to see people — because when I’m feeling jangly, my default is to hermit.

Writers need courage constantly. And courage is something we can practice and strengthen.

Writing Is an Act of Courage

It takes courage to write something that hasn't been written before. To express an emotional truth that hasn’t been put into words, yet. To describe a world that only exists in your imagination or memory.

It takes courage to go into the unknown every day, to create something that you hope sounds interesting, funny, or true—without knowing exactly how to do it!

And it takes courage to make time and space for this mysterious work that you do: using language to express an experience that exists without words.

Writers, we are called to a magnificent and complex challenge. And we do it because we love it. Right?

You’re here because writing is important to you. You’re here because your writing is more important than your resistance to writing. And it takes courage to face your resistance.

Know this: all authors write books one word at a time. Each word is a small act of courage.

Remember to break your journey down into smaller pieces you can manage, and celebrate each courageous action as the win that it is. Give yourself an end date, so you know you have made time to rest and assess after you sprint.

Every small courageous action you take will give you the power to write with even more courage, day after day.

Photo credit (top): Andrew Liu on Unsplash.