Live a Life Worth Sharing

Change can be frightening, and the temptation is often to resist it. But change almost always provides opportunities – to learn new things, to rethink tired processes, and to improve the way we work. — Klaus Schwab

Last week I wrote about what I’m doing now and shared my decision behind doing so. I love how writing creates a space to learn and reflect. Many people get writer’s block while writing, which leaves them frustrated and questioning their ability as a writer. Through reflection, I’ve learned a lesson that doubles as a strategy for writer’s block and personal growth:

The best way to write is to have a life worth living for in the first place.

If you don’t have anything interesting or worthy to write about, use this as an opportunity to do something worthwhile.

When was the last time you went on an adventure? Or made a mistake? Have you tried anything new recently? When is the last time you knew there was a risk but went for it anyway?

Practice is essential to improve our writing; there is a reason the saying  “practice makes perfect” is so popular. However, if we solely focus on writing and never go out to experience the world, we aren’t living a life worth sharing. When we don’t live a life worth sharing, it’ll show in our writing and our life. As writers, and learners, we need to be able to branch out and experience the world to enhance the experiences, thoughts, and perspectives we share. If we’re lucky, we’ll even teach others something.

Writing also teaches persistence. If we’re ready to give up at the slightest hint of difficulty, then our writing will show it. It will be short, bland, and not worth reading. Practice and persistence are essential to becoming a better writer, even if we stumble upon “writer’s block.” Just like anything in life, there will be challenges, but we need to define and overcome our problems rather than letting our problems define and overcome us.

The truth is, it doesn’t matter if you think of yourself as a writer, or if you hate writing. Writing gives me an excuse to do new things, learn from others, and embrace new experiences. Trying new things allows me to grow and gives me adventures to blend into my writing. The same applies to any genre of art, but don’t limit this to what you might think of as a traditional artist. Our clothes, vocabulary, and interactions with the world are all forms of expression.

We’re all creative individuals living in a big world full of experiences and opportunities, and we need to embrace it at all costs.

It’s easy to want to stick to the usual routine, as it’s comfortable and etched into how we identify ourselves. Our habits, good or bad, are created by how willing we are to try new things.

Our comfort zones can be spotted everywhere, even when we listen to music. We’ll repeatedly listen to a song and consider it our new favorite. We’ll indulge for a while, without realizing we only found this song because we were willing to leave our previous favorite and discover music we never heard before. Without risk and courage to try new things, we would never know our likes or dislikes.

Whenever we embrace a new challenge, listen to new music, or try a new experiment, we open our lives to new opportunities to live a life worth living and a story worth sharing. Regardless of your environment, socioeconomic status, or past, no one can take those experiences away from you. You’ll have those experiences forever, and you’ll live a more meaningful life because of it. Better yet, you are living a life worth sharing with others to learn and grow from.

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