Here goes nothing...

So, I’ve decided to create a weekly writing practice and publish on my website, because we can all do whatever the fuck we want on the internet these days. (But don’t fuck with cats!) I’ve always written for school, or work, but have struggled to create a practice of writing for myself, or the simple joy of getting things out of my brain and stored elsewhere. This year, I’m working to change that. Sometimes I’ll be writing from a prompt, sometimes it will be something that I need to get off of my chest, and sometimes it might be a quick little blurb about where I am in my life, my heart, my energy, my spirit, or my worldview. Ideally, I will keep to my Friday calendar schedule for this, but I am also allowing for the flexibility that I require to succeed. It is part of why I love working for myself so much! (I’d also LOVE to become a contributing writer to a few media outlets…)

Structure is something that was gifted to me by my parents, and I continued to thrive within those confines throughout my youth and adolescence. Then college hit, and all of the sudden the structure disappeared. I struggled with that for a while, even through moving to New York, auditioning, and finding my place in the business of Broadway and entertainment. Without making myself accountable to myself, I floundered while I discovered my way.

Eventually, I came to understand the importance of self-structure, which will look different for each of us. For me, lately, it includes four morning workouts each week (with strategically placed days to rest and recuperate in between), a consistent space outside of my apartment to call my office, and the flexibility and self-awareness to determine when these self-imposed rules aren’t suiting my needs.

While there are times that I miss the structures that have been placed upon me by exterior forces, ultimately my success and fulfillment come from creating the boundaries that work for me, and honoring them in a way that feels appropriate at any given time. When I’m moving through a challenging time (I don’t want to leave my apartment, I procrastinate on my to-do list, I’d rather be on the couch with my cat than at my computer), reassessing the structure, or lack thereof, allows me to step outside of the feeling of being stuck, and towards movement, flow, and invigoration.

I don’t yet know what the structure for this writing experiment will be, but the current iteration is a weekly blog post on Fridays that allows me to practice writing on a topic that intrigues me, or share an update about something that I’m excited about. Cheers to exploring self-structured writing in 2020!