You are not behind.
A perky little toadstool in a field of grass and pine needles.
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There’s an idea that’s always irked me in mainstream writing inspiration.
It goes something like this — if you don’t write it, someone else will, and it will be too late.
On one hand… sure? This could happen. Our ideas aren’t exclusive to us. We aren’t entitled to be their only carriers. But also — Does this matter? And mostly, does it help us write?
Urgency is so seductive.
We’re fed versions of it all the time — hurry up, work faster, someone is getting ahead of you.
These often live just under the surface, making anything that hooks into them particularly hard to shake.
But there’s so much on the other side of this idea.
For one — no one will write your work like you will. No one has read the same books, memorized the same song lyrics, cried in the same train cars. We are the sum of far too many things to be replaceable.
And, having seen thousands of people move through creative processes, I can tell you that fear and rushing are terrible motivators. They might get our engines revving, but they don’t give us the fuel that will get us through the whole journey from beginning to end.
From what I see, far more useful are play, curiosity, spaciousness, community, and processes. Far more useful are trust and patience. Far more useful even than that are finding ways to believe in our work enough to slow down our worried minds, and letting the words unfold.
The Ancient Greeks had two words for time.
“Chronos” time is linear. This is the one we tend to lean into. It’s the belief that one thing comes after another in a neat line that extends from the past to the future. When we’re in Chronos time, we are focused on accumulating, achieving, and moving forward.
But then there’s “Kairos” time, which messes all that up. Kairos time is qualitative instead of linear. Every action has its ideal moment, and every moment is meant for something.
When we’re in Kairos time, we’re focused on flow, experiencing the present, and asking ourselves what is ripe and ready to happen right now.
To write from our deepest places, we need both. Too much Chronos and we can’t tap the vividness and originality inside us. Too much Kairos, and we don’t get to the end of the journey.
When we’re stuck in urgency, Kairos time can help us out. As Wayne Muller says, “Productivity is a horrible metric for the measure of human wonder.”
So, three questions as we step into autumn.
What could Kairos time bring you this fall?
What is already ripe, and ready to happen in your writing?
What would your writing process look like if you turned up the tap on trust, flow, and patience?
We’re supposed to tell our version of things. No one can take that away.
Let’s start this new season with more calm, less competition, more flow, less fear.
If you want to find that with us, we’d love to chat.
I’m leaving you with the words of Morgan Harper Nichols today…
The subject line of the newsletter was inspired by her. She says:
You are not ‘behind.’ Your life is too complex to fit on a single linear line. You are on a journey through a wide range of landscapes.
(If you don’t know her, check this beautiful work out!)
See you in the Kairos! I’m so glad you’re making this thing with us.
In it with you,
