200 days

 “Consistency is what transforms average into excellence.”

Yesterday marked a milestone that I never thought I would hit.

Yesterday’s blog was the 200th in my short writing history. 

I always remind myself how little time I have been doing it. I remind myself how much better I still have to get. I remind myself how little I have accomplished.

But, I can’t undermine the obvious progress I have made.

Day 1 was December 31st, 2021. I told myself that I was going to become a blogger. I told myself that I was going to write everyday. 

That didn’t happen.

Instead, I wrote for 16 straight days before I lost the ambition to do anymore. I thought my writing sucked. I was discouraged with what I was writing about and saw it as having no value to anyone, including myself.

Looking back at it now provides HUGE value to me.

It allows you to see how immensely better I have become at writing, how much more focused my thoughts are, and how much more mature and developed I am emotionally.

Those first 16 days of writing were just the start. After some time, I came back to try again. I was quite inconsistent. Writing once every two months at first, then once a month, then once a week. Soon enough, fall of 2022 came and I began to find consistency. I was going through some big changes at this time in my life and found a home in writing. I reenvisioned my purpose behind writing. Rather than writing to just write I started writing to…

HELP A YOUNGER ME.

I wrote about things I was working on, failures I had, mistakes I made. I wrote about whatever I possibly could that would allow me to go back and look at what I had learned. Rather than trying to be a phony motivational writer who thinks they know everything, I tried to become an authentic voice others could come to to find inspiration.

I realized that storytelling is the best form of writing imaginable. Stories are what allow people to relate. When you can capture someone’s attention with a huge story, you can appeal to their deeper emotions. I started focusing on the quality of my stories. I began thinking about each moment of my life as a piece of my story and rather than just living it, I asked myself

WHAT CAN I LEARN FROM THIS?

Seeing how far writing has developed me only makes me want to do it more.

I finally found a sense of direction in my life. Even if I don’t know where I am going, at least I have someone to tell about it.

Although not many people have found this valuable yet, I most definitely have. I realized that this self-focused act of self-documentation has been the best habit I have formed to date.

I have finally found a way to capture my feelings rather than thinking I just understand them.

This post is not meant to toot my own horn, it is meant to tell about how much I sucked when I started. It is meant to tell about how hard it is to find consistency. It is meant to tell about the fear of being someone you are not.

I have barely made an impact yet, but I am going in the right direction.

I have found fulfillment in something I never thought I’d do.

In just 200 days of writing I have found a new purpose for myself. If I can do it that quickly, anyone can. Start today.

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Thank you for reading!

My goal is to inspire self-improvement in others through my personal stories and experiences.

This is The Exploration.