SkierHow often have we heard that happiness is an inside job? I believe that writing is an inside job as well. It’s whatever we make it. It can be hard, enervating, and frustrating—or inspired, uplifting, and fulfilling. Like many aspects of life, it’s all about our attitude.

ON THE SKIDS: PRO AND CON “I feel like I’m on the skids whenever I sit down to write,” a client told me the other day. Here are a few of Dictionary.com’s rather alarming definitions of “on the skids”:

  •         In the process of decline or deterioration
  •         On the downward path to ruin, poverty, and depravity

Yikes! Writing always asks us to go more deeply within ourselves, to find new insights, feelings, and ways to express ourselves. That’s often uncomfortable—but each time we reach that point of discomfort, we have a choice. We can let ourselves sink into being, if not on the road to “ruin, poverty, and depravity,” at least heading toward a bad mood or a defeated attitude.

Or we can think of “the skids” as skis, or as runners on a sled. These kinds of “skids” propel us forward automatically; all we have to do is maintain our balance. That mental balance means choosing to see the writing discomfort as an opportunity, something that takes us deeper and makes us better writers. Maybe even better people!

I’m not saying I can do this every time I hit a tough spot, but writing and life are certainly more fun, easier, and richer when I make the effort.

WRITING ON THE SKIDS

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