Show up.

I decided to publish a blog post every Tuesday. Why every Tuesday? Because the first time I published here happened to be on a Tuesday. There you have it. The reason behind it is pure coincidence.

So now I am sitting here on another Tuesday, and there is no post. In recent weeks the post was finished long before Tuesday. I just found a topic or had an idea, started writing, edited and improved it and was done with it. So when Tuesday arrived everything was prepared, and I just had to publish it. Nice and easy way to reach your goal and go on.

But not today. Today I have several posts that I have started but never finished because I just ran out of words. I had sparks of ideas, sat down as usual and started writing but came to a point where I had nothing left to say but the post wasn’t finished yet. So nothing to show for today. Nothing to publish as usual. No proud moment of hitting the button to send my words out to the world.

So what to do? As I mentioned, the Tuesday as the publishing day was established by pure chance. So there was no real reason why it had to be Tuesday. So there would be nothing wrong with waiting. Maybe the new post will be done on Wednesday, or Friday, or maybe next Tuesday. Or who knows.

This would also fit my idea that you shouldn’t force it. Instead, there is a right way, there is a right time, there is a right thing to do. When you are aligned, and it is time, it will be. That was what happened with the last posts. They just flew out of me, and all I had to do was write it down. An amazing feeling. And if you give yourself permission to wait and see and accept what happens, life gets exciting and fascinating.

So here I am in a dilemma. Should I go with the flow and just wait for it to happen or should I try to force it? The last weeks were amazing when I allowed myself to relax and go with the flow. Go out there, seize opportunities and let it happen. But don’t force what you think you want. Just listen to your inner voice and enjoy.

Or should I stick with my schedule? As I said, the schedule was pure coincidence. So why not discard it and see what happens? Isn’t that what the flow is all about? Wouldn’t it be forcing it if I tried to stick to the schedule?

But then I remembered what I heard Elizabeth Gilbert say in several interviews. She stated that you have to show up for your inspiration to find you. You can’t expect just to sit on your couch and wait. This doesn’t work. If you want to have a relationship, you have to go out there and connect with people. With lots and lots of people until you find the right one. If you want a job, you have to look for that job and apply to a lot of jobs until you get the right one. If you want to write you have to show up and write and write and write as long as it takes until the right words are on the page and you are exhausted because you have nothing else to give to this text.

So here I am, showing up. Writing word after word, sentence after sentence. Deleting whole paragraphs and starting new. Again and again. Until I found the right words. The words I wanted to share with you. Words that come from deep inside of me and wanted to be putten out there. Words that hopefully will inspire one of you to show up. Not to force anything. Just to be there, give it your best and see where it takes you. Until you are finished. Then you recharge, you relax for a moment, enjoy the feeling and of you go again. Show up for the next great thing. And the next one after that. And the next one after that.

Show up and see where it takes you. And enjoy along the way.