I have sat myself down hellbent on getting some words on paper for the first time in years.
Call it a new years resolution if you want, but its more of a personal arse-kicking, a re-starting, if you will, of my brain which I have allowed to stagnate in an endless stream of real world excrement while gasping for breaths of TikTok FYP and Reels to entertain and distract myself.
Here I sit pondering what I should be writing about, ChatGPT comes to mind, especially considering I wrote about the excesses of AI several years ago, but its done and dusted. The challenge of running a small business is always an option as they are ever changing and always relevant but that is just boring. Falling back on my old favorite of writing about having nothing to write about is worn out, even by this scribe.
What I would like to share today, is the post-covid challenge of getting myself going again. Anyone else going through this? I honestly feel like I don’t have a creative bone in my body. Five years ago, I was brimming with ridiculous ideas for apps, for articles and for my business but today, the well has run dry.
Here is my commitment, I will write an article a month for the next 5 months, minimum. Why? Lets call it a quick-start, a squirt of ether directly into the combustion chamber of my mind and now it will start coughing and spluttering itself into life, I hope.
While I am at it, this “cold-start diesel engine” metaphor is working for me, I am surrounded by clouds of proverbial black smoke as my neurons slowly try ticking over hoping the engine will fire before the starter motor burns out.
Ouch, it actually hurts reading that back but its exactly what I need right now. A slow clearing of cobwebs to allow the juices to start flowing again as I mix metaphors like a tiktok cooking recipe. Let them clash I say, as we bake pasta with tomato sauce and marshmallows. Seriously, you have to get onto the cooking side of tiktok, it’s a riot.
In all honesty, none of the above needs to make sense, there isn’t a narrative here, a thread, a beginning-middle-and-end to this piece, this is the first turn of the crank in many years and it feels good. Like a runner who hasn’t run in years, the first stumbling steps are painful but eventually the old rhythm comes back, the slap of shoes on tarmac, the click of fingers on keyboard, the clink of weights on the stops, whatever it may be for you, just start.
Trust me, I know it’s the hardest part, in my case, the first words on this page came like constipation through hemorrhoids, (definitely my worst analogy today but apt considering the excremental quality of this writing), but once you gain some momentum the old feeling comes back. The words are already flowing more freely (you are welcome that I didn’t expand on the previous simile) and next start should be that much easier.
I will sign-off with a call to all of you stuck in the same proverbial rut as I am, make that start, dust off the tennis racket, pump the tyres on your bike, take the dust cover off your keyboard, break out your tools and go make a mess of something that you used to love and start loving it again.