What to do when you can’t find the words
Hi everyone, so I haven’t posted an article or story in a while because I couldn’t find the words and I have missed doing that so much.
Writer’s block!
It is the perfect excuse/qualification for the condition of not being able to write but sincerely there were other factors. I would say life hit me. Often we find ourselves in situations we didn’t prepare for, spaces we didn’t know we would end up in or even with people we never guessed we could be with. The spontaneity of life is an unpredictable rollercoaster. Is it going left or right? Up or down? Truth is we may never know until it comes around.
To start with, life can be tough but it is even tougher being Nigerian. The sudden switch to adulthood, the quest for a decent paying job before or after you graduate, the pressure to get your sh** together, the pressure to get married, the list is endless. If you are lucky, you get to tackle these issues one at a time but sometimes you get thrown in the mix. Like all of a sudden life is slamming you with challenges, every new day coming with its “Gbas! Gbos!” It’s almost as if the system is built to choke you till you finally lose your breath.
This could push you to the wall. You get to a point where it feels like nothing makes sense. All your efforts, your hopes, your dreams begin to look like pieces of the puzzle you’re finding so hard to complete. For me, I started to get tired of everything. It was becoming harder and harder to create. The one outlet I had which is writing seemed like a bore. I wanted to do it only if it brought some incentives and that definitely didn’t result in the best job. Things I enjoyed started to become a chore and I had to start relying on my friends for moral support and random doses of “Hey you’ve got this” “it’ll be fine” to make my days feel better.
Times like this when you can’t find the words when you get numb and dog-tired, what do you do? How do you build enthusiasm? Well, I do not have the ideal answer because different things work for different people but I would highlight a few points that helped me get through mine.
“Be miserable, or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice” ~ Wayne Dyer
You have to realize that it all boils down to you. You either find the optimism or lay low. Laying low hardly brings about change rather it drains your motivation and energy. Challenge yourself to look at things constructively and be kind to yourself. There’s nothing wrong with you because things haven’t been going well. Play some music that inspires you, compare your journey in respect to others less and keep your goal in view. Read books that could broaden your perspective and introduce you to new ideas. New ideas can inspire you and get you fired up!
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. If any of them falls down, one can help the other up but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up”~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Get a partner whom you can be accountable to. The Bible tells us that it is better to not be a loner. It is great to want to be independent and self-reliant but we cannot alienate the value of true friends and how much help they could offer. A friend could impel you to work hard when you’d normally quit. A lover could help you “find a balance” in the craziness that life brings. A mentor could help you conquer your fears of not making it or not getting stuff done. No man is an Island. We all need someone to hold when the storm hits us.
There’s a range of other things you could do to keep yourself inspired like learning a new skill, exercising or even going back to the drawing board but these are just a few that worked great for me. I hope to find the words every time I want to and I hope that reading this article has inspired you to never wallow in self-pity but face life like the badass achiever you are. I hope that you always find the will to try, that you always eventually find the words.
Stay motivated.
Cheers!
