I sat down today to write the article and found…nothing.
Not an idea, not a theme, not a word, not an inspiration.
No words.
No expression.
And, most interestingly (to me anyway), no angst, fear, stress or concern.
Normally if I sit to write and find nothing, I go into a bit of a panic – me with no words is unusual…and if one is wanting to write an article, it’s not that useful to be wordless.
But because I was so calm about the lack of an idea, I started to ponder…
What if I could allow the nothingness?
What if this week I didn’t try to write an article?
What if I let go of the idea that I had to produce something today?
What if I allowed what is?
What if I simplified even further?
What if I tried honouring the blank page?
And what if what you most need to hear today is not many words but few words?
What if you have a blank page you needed to honour today?
What if you needed permission to stop, to allow, to simplify, to NOT do whatever it is you think you really should be doing?
What if there’s a need to respect a void?
What if you need to recognise and trust that sometimes nothing is exactly what should be said or written?
What if there’s some replenishment, nourishment, nurturing and hibernation to be done?
I’ve got a couple of big writing projects coming up in the next few weeks. and I suspect this week’s break from writing hundreds of words is just what I need. And perhaps you also need to honour the blank page, the space, the pause?
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2 responses to “Honouring the Blank Page”
Haha – so true Nela! It’s such a good point to know your process. When I’m writing a book I often go through an ‘ebb’ period, but with blog writing it’s almost always because I need to write about resistance or honouring the blank page…or to do it differently on that day. It’s fascinating isn’t it?! x
I’m always consoling myself that this is what’s it’s about when I hit a dry spell 🙂
As someone who works in bursts and then takes long rests preparing for the next one, being comfortable with a blank page is just something you need to learn to do, or you’ll drive yourself crazy with the “I should be creating right now, and I’m not, what is wrong with me?!”