Challenges Of Writing
By Tina Gilson
When I started writing this column years ago, I had no idea where it would take me. Would I run out of topics? Would people be interested in what I was writing about? Could I share a wide enough variety of information that there will be something for almost anyone at one point or another? Would anyone even read it or be helped by it?
There are times I struggle to get any writing done. I don’t always have a clear topic in mind; I may not have enough to say to hit my 500-word count, or maybe I have far more to say than I can squeeze into a 500-word column. Or I’m just busy.
There have been weeks I didn’t write anything; other weeks I wrote many in advance so I would have a backup for the times I didn’t, or couldn’t, get around to writing. Some weeks, there isn’t room in the paper, and my column needs to be held off for another week.
So here I sit after not writing a word for weeks, for getting when I last did and if I had any left in the file to cover my dry spell. I feel guilt and pressure when I don’t write, and other times I question whether or not I should stop writing or simply cut back. But then I get a message from someone who read a column that struck a chord with them.
While I make no assump tions my column is for ev eryone, or that people will always agree or fi nd my words insightful, the people who reach out to me to thank me, tell me they learned something, or feel better, that they hadn’t thought of something that way, that they feel less alone or less crazy, or they just appreci ate what I wrote, help keep me going. And that was the point of this from day one. To inform people but also let them know they aren’t alone.
I entitled this column “Awakenings” because that is what has been happening to so many people. We are in a time of great openings, adjustments, and shifts that are powerful and strange. People with abilities like mine aren’t new. We have been around since the dawn of time. We are just now more open and honest about it. We are more aware that we aren’t alone, and these things aren’t as unusual as we were led to believe.
I have had many people schedule consultations with me and make appointments just to chat. People who previously were afraid to discuss their experiences with other people. They were made to feel shameful or told they were evil because of such things (you absolutely are NOT), or they were afraid.
So, I will continue to plug along the best I can because I have discovered that while I am no one special, just a regular person like the rest of you, others feel seen, heard and understood by some of my writings. That’s enough for me.
Sacred Spirit Wellness is located at The Hive Wellness Collaborative, 21 Barton Street in Bradford, VT. They can be reached via email at sacredspiritwellness1@gmail.com, on their Facebook page or www.sacredspiritwellness.com