People-pleasing perfectionism

I’ve been struggling lately with this whole writing thing.

I want to write. I really do. But I get stuck staring at a blank screen, not knowing what to write about, even though I have a list of possible post topics. But none of them sound as appealing as when I first created the list.

I’m an enneagram 9, with a strong 1-wing, which basically means I want to make everyone happy and it has to be done perfectly.

I’m realizing I’m letting that people-pleasing perfectionism get in the way of my writing.  Every post I write has to be thoughtful. Compelling. Tugging on your heart. With pretty pictures.

This morning I went to the blog of a woman I consider to be a friend and mentor (though I don’t think she realizes it 🙂 ) and found myself looking back at the first posts that appeared on her blog. OVER NINE YEARS AGO.

This woman (who is currently a dynamic speaker and leader and has two published books) wrote a few short paragraphs every couple of days. Sometimes she included photos, but not usually. Her posts sometimes had a specific point or message to communicate, other times it was simply sharing what was happening in her life.

I realized my current writing struggle is a classic one: I’m comparing my beginning to everyone else’s middle. And I’m forgetting that even those affluent writers also had to begin somewhere.

So as my writing journey continues, the “Miscellaneous Thoughts” category on this blog might be larger than the others that are more focused. But I can’t let the fear of making every post perfect for my ideal reader keep me from simply developing my writing muscles.

Still, I’ll end with a question to see if I can make these musings relate to you: What is something you want to be good at, but when you see someone else doing that thing, you get discouraged because you don’t believe you’ll ever be as good at it as they are?