Yep, this is that blog post. You know the one? The one about how easy it actually is to make time in your busy life for writing. The one where I humorously chide you for not finishing that one story you have inside yourself (everyone has at least one, and that is not counting the one they are presently living). The blog where I say these things, argue do as I say, ignoring the stretches of days and even weeks where I don’t write more than ten minutes in a single day…
This is also the same blog where I remind you that I do actually write ten minutes every day and that counts as writing. In fact, I am writing this in ten minutes. Yes, if you’re already here you already knew that. Did you know that I am writing it in the bathroom?
Hear me out. Seriously. I know that it seems gross on the surface. However, a 2018 OnePoll survey conducted in conjunction with Pebble Grey showed that 45% of people polled struggled to find time for themselves. The same study showed that men spend an average of 7hrs a year in the bathroom. A 3rd of the men polled admitted to hiding in the bathroom for quiet time. Well, perhaps that time can be quietly spent writing as opposed to playing Clash Royale–which is clearly what I would be doing if not writing.
Yes, I am justifying. Don’t we all justify our behaviors and our lack of time in a similar fashion? Doesn’t each of us say, this is ‘how it is’. Don’t some of us pretend to be powerless about ‘how it is’ while simultaneously finding quiet moments for what we really want to be doing–even if we end up having to do it in the bathroom under cover of… well, you get it.
Don’t you get it?
This is a blog about choice. Writing is a choice we either make or don’t. We have the power to decide what matters and what does not matter. We have the choice to grow into ourselves our grow into our circumstances. The fact is we make these choices every day. We just tend to spend less and less time being mindful about the fact that these are our choices.
It is easier to pretend not to be free than to live with the reality of what we do with all that freedom.