Bertha von Suttner and Making Peace with Writing

Yesterday I was intrigued by the google home page. 

It was an inspiring picture of a regal woman holding a book in open palms with pages that were turning into doves as they floated away from the book. This picture was hitting a lot of buttons for me: her crown and regal nature, her connection to writing and to the potential for peace being created from writing. 

With this picture in mind, I thought of you and my clients who are struggling to make peace with the writing process and the continual process and opportunity for personal growth that it provides. And, this picture seemed to just embody all of that so beautifully. 

And, so, of course, I clicked! I entered into the online rabbit hole of who this person was and what I could learn here. From Wikipedia I learned that her name was Bertha von Suttner, she was the first female nobel peace prize laureate, she was from Austria, and …. but wait…wait…wait….hold on a second…what is happening here?

I began to emerge from the fogginess in my brain and I asked myself what am I doing? Is this information that I even need right now, what is happening here? Is this really what I want to be doing right now? Ah! I have been pulled off purpose!

Right before I saw Bertha on the Google homepage, I was about to do something that I have been avoiding. It was time to check in with what I really wanted and what was I about to do right before slipping into soothing with sweet endless internet information possibilities. 

So, I did learn from Bertha. She was reminded me that it’s so easy to get off track when we are in fear. Fear can have so many faces. For me it’s often overwhelm, confusion or circling.

A part of keeping the peace with our writing or whatever the work is in front of us is to check in and ask what are we avoiding and why.

So, my question for you is where are you letting yourself slip into the fog of avoidance and procrastination? What were you about to do just before it happened to you? How can you be compassionate with yourself and learn from what you are avoiding? Know that it happens to all of us, and remember that the difference is whether we choose to connect with ourselves to learn from it and take different actions or not. 

If you are someone you know is avoiding their writing, please support them by connecting them with me by email at support@melissaEanders.com so that we can learn more about what is happening for them and whether it makes sense to take a next step together or not. 

Sincerely,
Melissa