Wow, I can’t believe I’ve done it. 30 days of writing. Like woah! I honestly thought I would not be here right now writing about my experience. Here’s my top 5 takeaways from this experience.
- Set an alarm. There were a quite a few days where I almost forgot. Or should I say avoided my computer first thing in the morning, but having it scheduled in my calendar WITH an alarm made it possible. This little task has made me more accountable to myself. It’s as if I have two identities. There’s the Ashley who wants to stay comfortable and just feel her way through the days. And then the Ashley who ultimately wants to be the best version of herself stepping outside her comfort zone every day. It’s an internal battle that I faced everyday but the calendar acted as the deciding vote. It made it easier to say, you made this commitment to your self. Do you really want to let her down? There answer was always, no.
- Don’t think you have nothing to say. This goes with the lazy version of Ashley. She often has a lot of negative bs to say. One always being, “you have nothing of value to offer” I know it’s harsh but it’s just the mean girl inside my head. Sitting down to write was the only way to shut her up. Most days I had no idea what I would write about. And if I’m being honest, most days Inever proofread my writing. I knew if I did, I would highlight the negative and want to take it down. I know I’m not the best writer out there and I never meant for this experience to be that. There was no expectations associated to me writing. The goal was to write.
- Don’t second guess your ability. I know if I re-read my writing, I would make changes. And I’m actually ok with not making any changes to these past 30 days of entries. It was raw and authentic. I started this experience doubting my ability to write. Doubting my ability to be consistent. If I focused on the end in goal it feels overwhelming, so I took the task in little bite-sized chunks. At the start of the month, the only goal was to write, but midway through the month I did make one change, I made it my goal to write at least 600 words. I couldn’t tell you why I choose 600 but it probably has something to do with the one day where I was on the struggle bus and surprised myself by getting to that number. From that point on, that was the challenge. If you never stretch your ability, you never know how far you can go! I’m so freaking proud of myself for setting this goal and actually attaining it! Hold on while I give myself a pat on the back! Ha!
- You never know unless you try. This is the cold hard truth. And sometimes you have to try multiple times. My brother and I tried to do this a year ago, I think I may have completed 7 days. And that was a huge success. I think the coolest thing about completing this was the fact that I stayed consistent even though I traveled twice this month! Yup, two trips with the hubby and I still made the time to write. Who the heck am I? It would have been sooooo easy for me to skip it, but like I said earlier, I didn’t want to disappoint myself.
- I’m capable of more. I don’t know all that I’m capable of but I know I don’t have to be scared to try. I think that’s the biggest lesson from this experience. For so long I expected myself to be an instant success at everything I did. Maybe that was because I excelled in everything I tried as a kid. I don’t ever really remember “failing” big at anything. I think that’s mostly because I wouldn’t try anything I thought I wouldn’t be good at. This year I’ve allowed myself to fail. I know that failing at something doesn’t make me a failure!
So tomorrow starts a new month. Will there be a potential new goal in writing? Maybe. This has become somewhat my thoughts of the day that I will continue. Maybe this upcoming month I will focus on creating more value. I don’t know but I got a few hours to figure it out!