#521 On the road we stay

If writing and creating every day were as vital to my survival as drinking water, ingesting food, and bonding… What would life look like?

Biologically, all behavior is driven by pain, pleasure, and the triggers and habits that come from repeated reaction to those stimuli.

So I eat because I want to escape the pain of hunger – or heartbreak, sadness, and frustration.

I connect with others because I’m neurologically hardwired to feel pleasure when bonding… and pain and deprivation when I’m abandoned.

Similarly, I write because I want to escape the frustration of not being able to put into words an insight.

I also write because I enjoy the rush resulting from finding the words that convey what I want to say.

I write because I love the tingling in my back and neck when I combine those words into sentences with just the right rhythm, just the right cadence capturing the meaning, context, emotion of what I want to say…

I write because writing wrests the essence from the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions racing through my mind and body.

I write because when when I write, I feel that at last, I can make sense of life.

And the more meaning I find, the more likely I am to write.

You build self-trust by taking actions – Tiny Trust Builders – in alignment with who you want to be.

I want to be a writer, and build self-trust by writing every day, even if it’s just one line.

I want to learn Portuguese, and build self-trust by practicing every day, even if it’s just 2 minutes.

But often, what stops you from taking these actions in the first place is a lack of trust in yourself.

I don’t trust myself to write every day – I’ll give up anyway.

I don’t trust myself to learn Portuguese every day – I’ll probably get busy and skip a day.

There’s only one way out of this vicious cycle:

When you don’t trust yourself to take the actions, you take a leap of faith instead.

Because with every leap, fear turns into faith, and faith into trust.

Trust you must.

If you knew you’d always feel unsatisfied with what you write, would you still let satisfaction play a role in your writing process?

If you knew your writing would always be criticized by others, no matter how good it is, would you still let their criticism determine whether you should publish?

If you’d take the fear that stops you the most and rob it of its power, would you write and publish more?