Drinking the Writer’s Kool-Aid
If I’m going to get anywhere with writing, I have to drink the Writer’s Kool-Aid. What a loaded statement, but it holds a lot of truths for me.
I’ve written short stories that are lost on floppy disks in landfills. Short bursts of prose or lengthy musings. Streams of thought are scattered across notebooks or even put together in a single self-published poetry book. To write is something I’ve always enjoyed, but I never made a habit of it. Despite my busy, Virgo-bent mind, trailblazing towards a master's degree, after being the only family member to get an undergrad mind you, or after accomplishing a myriad of self-prescribed achievements, writing has always held an “eh” place in my life. Despite being the one tool that has allowed me to channel and process so much, marking monumental passages in my pithy existence, I’ve been a fair-weather friend to writing.
So, what is all this talk about Kool-Aid drinking? A night or two ago, I found the time to open all my unread Medium Daily Digest emails. As I opened article after article, consuming words written by strangers, I discovered an invisible hand had passed me the Kool-Aid. Here I had been living an existence outside of writing, even though I love to write, but once I tapped into all the articles from Medium at once, an epiphany descended upon me.
As I took this symbolic sip of reading article after article, I realized that for anything I am interested in doing, I need to take that initiatic gulp and jump in with both feet. Writing wouldn’t become a “thing” for me to really engage with it unless I plugged into its universe and partook of its fruit. I just need to step into the circle and join hands. To make the commitment to myself that yes, this is something I choose to prioritize. I shall drink its Kool-Aid and become renewed.
Excuses are always plentiful if you’re seeking them. A creative at heart, I work for a Fortune 200 and have been building a corporate career. Efforts to present creativity have been put forth under pen names or in close circles. Remember though, any excuse can be puffed away like the wolf in front of the house built of straw. For the initial step and under the guise of a pen name, I can still share my heart and thoughts without fear of judgment or potential professional repercussions. I can leave behind the initial tremor at the threshold of a new venture and see that when I step into the commitment to write, that the rules magically change. That something shifts in favor of the bold and I can slowly regain the creative voice that I lost.
When I first mentioned “getting somewhere with writing” that is what I meant. It’s an invitation for ballistic destruction of false notions that have kept me playing small. To remind me that I can exert more influence upon the tides in my life. As the world is ever-changing, transformation is inevitable. Whether it be writing or something else that does or could hold meaning for you, take the first step and drink its Kool-Aid. You owe it to yourself to take action in the direction of your dreams. Truly one of the hardest steps is the first one across the threshold.
