Work. Doubt. Cheer. Cry.

It either comes in droves or concrete white lies while you work. Whether it’s freelance, personal, for school, confidence as a writer is a double edged sword.

Believe me when I tell you this: you’re not the only one to constantly doubt their abilities as a writer. It’s exhausting some days, when you have to work on multiple projects at once, or finally stare down at an essay you’ve rewritten you don’t know how many times.

Each pen stroke to paper, each key that you type in a document, they all look back up at you waiting to for you to slip up even once.

But, it doesn’t mean you can’t persevere in your work. It doesn’t mean that you’re terrible or worse than your counterparts. We all have our own path to make, as cliché as that sounds, but it’s true. Not one of us can hope to move forward if we choose to stay comfortable in our lies. It’s stifling; it’s demoralizing; it’s keeping you from your true potential.

And if you continue to compare yourself to others, and constantly put yourself down, then your work and mindset will suffer.

Making that Jump

Every one of us has a chance to make a difference for ourselves and for the world. And I know it seems bleak, given the political climate right now, but even the smallest of gestures to prove to yourself that you are a good writer, will be looked back on as: “I did that. I did that even when I was at my lowest. Or when I said I wasn’t good enough.”

I won’t lie and say that you’ll never have a day of self-doubt, because even those with ten, fifteen or more years of experience of writing have their days. Ask anyone you know, no matter their level or years.

There are teenagers right now at their desks trying to find some semblance of peace in this broken world with an affinity for writing. Even if it’s starting out with their high school essays on critiquing themes of a classic in their English class. They have their days where confidence is out the window, but despite that, and for themselves, they keep going. They push through it. And to me, that is more admirable than anything else.

There are stay at home parents and office job workers polishing up or revisiting the craft, and pushing out one story after another. Or article to blog posts to whole fictional series. Their coworkers or day to day life might push them to believe that it’s impossible. That they’ll never make it. That no one will care.

And to that I say: the only person whose opinion matters the most in your writing ability is yourself. Is that to say that you should ignore helpful criticism and varying opinions? No. But if you and others know that your writing is more than just satisfactory or worthy of more than just a second-long glance, then you keep at it.

The worst thing you can do to damper your confidence is to constantly compare yourself to others, or telling yourself that you can’t do it.

I don’t know about you, but when someone tells me I can’t do something, that means do it in spite of them (of course that doesn’t apply to breaking laws and such like many aloof and charismatic characters of your beloved stories).

Start Now

Your confidence is more than just a pat on the back or a ‘you got this’; it’s the starting point to you grabbing ahold of your dreams and making them a reality. Yes, it takes time for that self-confidence to balance itself out, and for you to find that spark you may have lost before or couldn’t find for the life of you.

Take it one day at a time, but you can’t take it one day at a time if you don’t start now.

It doesn’t matter how old you are either. You are not alone. I believe in you.

Please, believe in yourself.

Free Palestine