What do you do when you don’t want to do something you love doing? Sometimes, when I’m on the air, I don’t feel like talking. Sometimes, when I need to write, I don’t feel like writing. I love being on the radio. I love writing. So what does one do in these moments?
Initially, I comply. I talk and I write until it feels good or something inspiring comes to me. This very moment, I don’t feel like writing. But writing was part of my intention today. I had no reason not to write. I just didn’t feel like it. At the time I was more interested in stretching out on the couch and doing nothing. I genuinely felt uninspired. In my heart of hearts, I wanted to write this post. But the words that came did little to motivate me to type them.
Instead, I wrote in my journal, hoping that Inspiration and I would meet up for a few laughs, or a good cry, or a loving glance. But, no.
I put the pen down for a few hours since it seems as if Inspo had ghosted me. Then suddenly it appeared. It’s here! Inspiration is here. I jumped for my pen, ready to secrete the sounds of the sentences filling my head. Only to discover my pen had gone on strike. I scratched it against different surfaces. Paper. Plastic. Cloth. By the third texture the ink began to flow. Unfortunately, the idea also flowed. Right out of my brain like a helium balloon though a sunroof. As briskly as inspiration materialized, it misted into nothingness while I attempted to jumpstart the ballpoint.
Sometimes, when inspired words show up you have to grab them by the letter and hold onto them. I have to make sure to lasso them until I can get them on the air or on the page. After I racked my noggin a few times to jiggle the idea loose from some clingy brain cell, I realized the answer to the question I first posed, which goes beyond compliance. What do you do?
Realize inspiration is always here. You just have to be still-minded enough and open enough and appreciative enough to welcome it in. Clear the path. Invite it to stay a while. Allow inspiration to flow through you and to you so you can share it with someone else who needs some inspiration too.