Why is it so much easier to find energy to watch TV or talk on the phone or read the news online than it is to write?
These things take the same amount of energy as writing. Your body doesn’t have an electric meter that spins a little slower when you watch TV or play with your kids than it would if you were writing. If your expending physical energy, that might require replenishing calories, but your brain runs on pretty much the same amount of power no matter what you’re doing.
We’ve been socially conditioned to think of certain activities as requiring “brain energy” while others are “low key”. But here’s a challenge. The next time you think you couldn’t possibly write because you don’t have the energy, try writing for 100 words or 3 or 4 minutes. I can practically guarantee that not only will you feel refreshed and in a different mental zone, you will probably keep on going.
Energy isn’t the issue. The issue is resistance. “I don’t have energy” is a convenient shorthand that lets us off the hook better than saying “I’m afraid to write”. “You’re excused” – you worked so hard today, you had to clean the house, you had to hang out with your spouse, watch the kids, volunteer. No one could possibly have the energy to write after all that. Except you. You do.
Stop reading this blog right now and turn off the browser and write 100 words, or for three minutes, whichever comes first and if you don’t you need to go splash cold water on your face and say “what the hell Percy, what the hell!” as that incantation will absolutely cause you to realize you’re full of shit and could easily write for three minutes.
What the hell Percy? You’re still reading and not writing? really?