In my journal, I handwrote the following Virginia Woolf quote:
No need to hurry.
No need to sparkle.
No need to be anybody but oneself.
It reminded me of a James Clear quote encouraging us to play to our strengths and choose what feels easy:
Look for situations where the energy is already flowing downhill. Invest in relationships where there is already mutual respect…. Work on projects that play to your strengths.
And then, once the potential of the situation is already working for you, add fuel to the fire. Pour yourself into the craft. Act as if you have to outwork everyone else—even though the wind is at your back.
The idea is to sprint downhill, not grind uphill.
The connection is that the more you become yourself, the easier things get because you choose to go downhill, not uphill.
I was looking back at a page I wrote in my journal back in 2019, and I saw these words:
If evolution selected both my ability to experience and my ability to talk about that experience, then there is a big possibility that I need them both.
Poetry is the only form of writing that blends both my primitive experiential side and my modern cognitive mind. It can be a medium where the worldless and the wordful can dance together.