.png)
Over the last few months, I’ve been in college spending time working on homework, attending class, and socializing with friends. Through some miracle, I’ve been able to keep a blog for both myself and my readers, and post twice a week, every week.
And though it pains me to say it, I feel as if I haven’t been giving them my best until just recently. College is just so overwhelming that I barely have time to write posts – it takes about two hours just to write a decent one.
I thought that they’d understand that I don’t have time to write a post that’ll knock their socks off. They’d realize that I, like them, had a life that demands as much from me as theirs does from them. They already felt my pain.
But then it hit me. My life is NOTHING compared to my readers’ lives. Most of my readers are arguably older than me. They have jobs, kids, a mortgage to pay. They have responsibilities. What do I have? I’m just a student. Everything is already provided for me. The only thing I have to worry about is getting good grades. Mind you, my college is not one to mess with (University of Chicago, you know, the one with all the Nobel Prize winners?), but nevertheless I owe it to my readers to give them what they deserve. This means they deserve writing that’s from the bottom of my heart.
How I lost my groove
Over the break, I took a look at my published blog posts. I was astounded at the number of errors that I had missed in the proofreading process (formerly nonexistent, apparently). And even despite those errors, some thoughts felt…unfinished. I felt that I was teasing my readers with knowledge of something vast, only to leave them with a cliche that I’m pretty sure they’ve heard before. Feeling fatigued at 11:00 PM after a long slog through linear algebra was no excuse to publish such garbage. But what had gone wrong?
Actually, the problems were actually easy to spot:
1 – Procrastination: I tended to usually wait until the last minute when I’d write posts. Long before the deadline, after I finished my homework, I’d typically find other ways to avoid writing. This mostly involved going to the dining halls to eat, lounge around (none other than) the lounge, or simply watch people play Mario Kart. I began to see writing as a chore rather than a hobby.
2 – Peer Pressure: (Or should I call it “reader pressure”? 
) I felt that there was so much pressure on me to write a masterpiece everytime. That if I didn’t inspire everybody, they’d leave. It was because of this fear that my writing suffered. I’d write something that everyone knew was true. I never tried to challenge any beliefs as I used to.
3 – Careless Writing: My fatigue and carelessness would make me miss typos, and when I found these after I published them, my perception of my writing got even worse. I’d ask myself what the point was, and each typo made me a little more resentful to my “hobby”. “If I’m not a compelling writer”, I thought, “why bother?”.
How I got my groove back
Returning home, I’ve realized a few epiphanies slipped my mind in between my forays with final exams and mid-terms. I got so caught up in what I didn’t like about writing, that I completely overlooked what made me love writing in the first place. These truths have given me my groove back. Whether you’re a dancer, singer, teacher, or even a writer like me, there’s not a doubt in my mind these won’t help you recapture your groove:
If you love it, do it everyday
I’d start to dread writing posts, when I should’ve done it everyday to begin with. That way, I couldn’t possibly perceive it as a chore – it’d just be something I loved doing. Whether it simply be a little synopsis of the day, or a great novel about what pisses me off, I could’ve done it.
Spend some time to think about what your hobby means to you
Sometimes, it may not be as simple as working on your hobby everyday. You may have to remember why you liked it in the first place. Recapture what drew you to what you loved. It’s not going to take five minutes, an hour, or even a day. Over break, I spent hours everyday reflecting on life and thinking about what I wanted. Questions like “Why do I write?” and “Why do I enjoy it” were answered in a week. (That was the week I wrote, What Life Feels Like at Almost Two Decades Old).
Eliminate the “unnecessary”
Don’t procrastinate and use “lack of time” as an excuse. Everyone has time. Think of it this way: Nobody has more time than you. There are 24 hours in the day and you could spend 5 of them sleeping and 7 of them working. That’s 12 hours to spend! Just one of those hours could be better invested in your pastime than on surfing the web (my main problem in college).
Everyone loses passion sometimes. But when you start to quit because of problems that are easily preventable, you’ve got to change your perspective. I thought I hated writing when it was in fact just the result of issues that I created myself.
photo credit: mark sebastian
———–
If you liked this post, share it on Twitter, StumbleUpon, or Facebook. It’ll do the both of us a world of good. Don’t forget to connect with me on Twitter.
Blogging is part slavery, part love
In a sense you become a slave to your blog and your readers. Let’s face it: Even the most hard core bloggers don’t always feel like blogging. Sometimes we just want to chill.
But it’s also part adventure and passion. And few things will make you as savvy a writer as blogging regularly. It’s an education in itself.
Hey Bamboo! I’ve been blogging regularly for a while, but the content I write when I feel forced, feels forced
It’s not genuine, sometimes I’ve posted because I wanted to get views. Well that all changes – as you’ll learn in my next post.
There is a lot of pressure to write something influential, or something to challenge or shift someone’s train of thought, at least for me. That’s partly because of the great stuff I’ve read at Steve Pavlina’s blog.
As you said, we’ve got to remember our passion for writing. I write everyday, after my days over to relieve any stress I may have and to reflect on my day and see how aligned I was with my goals.
Although, on my blog, it’s totally different. I write to inspire, to influence and about my journey of becoming a professional working actor. I don’t write much about my struggles-purely financial right now-but, maybe I should.
I read somewhere to write as if you only have a few readers. It helps to take the pressure off.
Just as I do away with peer pressure, I’m doing away with reader pressure. I’m no longer a slave to pageviews, subscribers, and other meaningless numbers. I’m not going to sacrifice my love for writing and just post things for the superficiality alone. I’ve actually read all of these comments and have come to a decision. That decision is in the next post.
Thanks for the helpful advice, Robert.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Anyasor, John Anyasor. John Anyasor said: New at HiLife2B How to Get Your Groove Back: Writing, Dancing, Singing, Etc.: Over the last few months, I’ve been… http://bit.ly/6HYJuB [...]
I think Robert’s advice is perfect…to write as if you only have a few readers. Write for yourself and let your readers be attracted to who that person is instead of trying to craft something that you think your readers will be drawn to.
Earl´s last blog ..A Decade of Wandering Ends, Another One Begins (Part 2)
Thanks Earl! Yeah, Robert’s advice really helped. I can’t keep letting my uncertainty take over my writing. I used to think “I hope they’ll like this” only because what I wrote (a little of the time – when I would write last minute posts) wasn’t “me”.
John,
My daughter went to U of C. What an awesome school and so many wonderful memories of the times we visited her there. Which was quite often…she played basketball and soccer.
I think you’re being to hard on yourself! First off I have grammar errors and spelling errors that just aren’t caught not even with spell check. So forgive yourself.
I don’t believe you have to right everyday! If you want to make that a priority fine…I would think your grades are more important.
When my ego puts the “shoulds” on me I remind myself “I’m the only one who is doing this to myself. No one has a gun to my head over my blogging.”
I began posting less after my first 6 months. I don’t comment on every single post of all the blogs I read. And all is well.
When we compare ourselves with others we never win and always come away feeling less than. I would rather see 2-3 great articles than 5 so-so ones.
Lighten up! I may have other things going on in life but I certainly don’t have the brains for U of C. I’m very impressed and understand how hard you must of worked to get there. So enjoy!
Tess The Bold Life´s last blog ..60 Ways To Become The Person You Love
Awesome! Small world isn’t it?
U of C is a really great academic facility. The social life isn’t as awesome as I thought it would be – to be blunt, by keeping this blog up and working on other projects in addition to school work, my social life has greatly diminished. But whatever, it’s the life I chose to live.
As they say, we are our own worst critics. Sometimes, I can’t help it. I reread some of the stuff, I’m like “Man, what was I thinking?!” I’ll try to be a little less critical of myself. And you’re right about grades being more important; it’s time I started putting my grades before personal branding
You really make some great points (so much so that I’m copying and pasting this comment for safe keeping
). I thank you for all your help and in regards to getting here, nobody really needs brains. You just have to work hard. God knows I’m no genius 
What insight you have! What great perception for a person who is two decades old! Today I am 63 years old, and I have taken a break from blogging this week, because the words would not come. You’ve given me just the inspiration I needed to get started again. As they say, “Out of the mouths of Babes….” Learn as much as you can and always push yourself a little bit more, but remember this … Enjoy your youth! It slips away with each passing year. You are an artist … a writer! I predict you will carry writing forward with you for a lifetime. Talents such as yours are God-given. I’m so glad you found your muse again.
Vernita Bridges-Hoyt´s last blog ..Yoshi BOXER and Mini-Me | Loyalty and Kindness
Hey Vernita, welcome to the blog! You give me too much credit
I don’t have anywhere near as much experience and wisdom as you. Trust me, I’m enjoying my youth, just not to its greatest potential; at least not yet 
.
Talent such as mine, huh?
Thank you very much. I’m no Shakespeare, but I try. And about finding my muse again…I’m glad too.
Hey John!
Over the last month my business has been busy (yay!!) and so my blogging was not so regular as it should have been…
I decided to take a break and let people know that I would be back in a while.. it has given me an opportunity to take a breather and reignite the will to do it again.
On my very long lists of things to do is write some blogs in advance.. I am going to try to do that so that on those days when I can’t summon the energy to write, one will be ready!
You have plenty of great motivating and inspiring things to share, so do them in your time.
Best wishes, K
Hey Kirsty! It’s been awhile, but I’m glad you’re spending more time bettering your life for you and your family than just reading my blog
I hope you bring the blog back, whenever you’re ready, I’m there! Thanks for everything and I wish you all the best.
Great Post John! I was facing same kind of problem six months back before completing my college. We really have time, but we fail to understand our priority. We have to learn to say ‘NO’ to less important things to say “YES” to more important things of our Life. I really enjoy your blog. Like to connect to you personally.
Hey Sourav, welcome and ecstatic that you enjoy the blog! I’ve been saying YES far too many times in 2009. In this new year of 2010, it’s time to take action. I can’t keep trying to please everyone – it’s time I really took responsibility for my own life.
We’re definitely connecting on Twitter sometime
Hey John. I agree with this post. Sometimes I look back at my writing and I’m like, “Wow… did I really write this?”
When you go back and actually “read out loud” what you wrote, you tend to find a lot more grammatical and punctuation errors than when you just post thinking that you’re “okay”.
But like you say, obsessing over your mistakes is not the way to go about blogging; it’s only going to make you focus on the negative. Learn from them, do what you love, and move on.
Actually you’re right. I’ve read my latest post out loud too. Just hope I didn’t miss anything..
I’ve been focusing on the negatives of not posting on time much too long. As you’ll soon see, changes are coming, to my life and the blog. Thanks for being here, and giving me advice
Hey John: I think that so many of your posts have been insightful and thought provoking and honestly the biggest challenge is creating posts with substance. In many ways, blogging is no different than all of the other challenges that come our way…we live, we learn and we get better. I really enjoy looking at blogger’s older posts and comparing them with their more recent ones because you can see their progress and it is almost as if you are on their journey with them.
Sibyl – alternaview´s last blog ..Do you want to shape your future? Set goals…but keep today top of mind
You’re definitely right when you say writing is a challenge. It’s a tough job. Sometimes your thoughts can just explode onto the page and you think it’s okay for somebody else to read. Taking a second look though, most of the time shows that what may make sense to you may not always make sense to your readers.
Admittedly, there have been times when I’ve been a bit generic on my blog. That’s definitely going to change. Glad you still fancy the blog – despite it’s ups and downs