Writer’s Block and a Love for People

That blank page staring back at you as if it is a white ghost sent to haunt you. You sit there gazing and hoping that words will come so that you can cast the shadow from you and feel a sense of accomplishment. Dramatic? Yes. And maybe not too far from your reality.

If you have been writing on Steemit for any length of time, then you have had moments where you don’t know what to write. The chances are good that you have even read a few articles on Steemit about finding things to write about!

I am not here to detract from any of those suggestions, but merely to highlight an attitude I find in myself - and possibly you find in yourself - that those authors have briefly touched on before.

One of the most helpful pieces of advice that I find in articles about writer’s block is the encouragement to leave your work. That may sound counterintuitive when the whole goal is to finish what you started, but hear me out for a second.

Most often when I am having trouble finding the words, it is not for a lack of knowledge. Rather, it is for a lack of application.

I don’t agree with the phrase knowledge is power - I do agree that applied knowledge is power. The most vivid example of that application is listening to people, and/or teaching them what you have been learning.

My tendency is to read and research multiple hours a day. That is not a bad habit per say, for we all have a responsibility to grow and become better each day. My problem comes when I sacrifice meeting new people for the sake of researching more.

There are incredible conversations that occur when we go out and hear what is going on in the lives of people. It amazes me day in and day out how the things we are reading, or they are reading, can be the exact solution to what we are struggling with.

That is not by accident, and I do not believe it is supposed to be uncommon either. There is a rhythm to learning and living that we are wired to enjoy, and it is a beautiful thing when it happens.

One habit that has helped me immensely is meeting 3 new people every day. I won’t say that it was easy to implement, because it was not. However, the combination of books to consume and people to share the knowledge with has been immeasurably fruitful in my life.

Just a few hours ago I spoke with a friend who is dealing with the exact things I am reading about in a book. His face lit up when I told him what I was reading, and my soul soared as I was able to learn twice from teaching.

Moments like that don’t happen when we are only reading and writing. We can still pump out incredible amounts of work with those habits, and yet in my experience there is a soulishness missing in our words. We miss the reason many of us started to grow through our reading to begin with - we want to be more equipped to love and serve people.

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