Been a while...
I used to see people or notes that said that most people leave Substack after a month, or after a few days, for some reason or another.
I used to think, I won’t do that because I enjoyed it, the thought process, and everything else.
Turns out, it doesn’t take much. The recipe for leaving is;
Overthinking what to write, basically trying to read/write based on the reader’s perspective. This, I found ironic because a lot of posts here urge one to be authentic, and many times, I wondered if it was overrated or if I was just having a mild crisis.
Struggling with other personal things. This is something I used to overlook. I had exams coming up then, I was still figuring out college stuff, and up till now, I can’t even say that everything has worked out.
Not really knowing. I’ve come to understand that with time comes maturity. And when I talk about maturity, I mean understanding that anything and everything you do reflects on you and the person you want to be. Choices you make are yours and yours alone. Responsibility is, in fact, the most important thing to live by and is in no way overrated. People matter, but their opinions about you should never take precedence over yours, unless it is constructive criticism.
Seeing other people’s work and going ‘I could never write like this’ or ‘this is what people like and I can’t write this’ or ‘I wish…’ or ‘This is so beautiful, how long do I need to perfect my writing?’. Do you see how similar all these questions are? Exactly. It’s stupid, really, because the point is to write your own version of things, and yet, you still end up comparing your work to other people who have probably had more experience or more time or whatever. It literally shouldn’t matter.
Too lazy to write. Now this, I’m guilty of. I don’t write as often as I would like to because I just can’t bring myself to write anything. I try to think of something to write and go blank, and then when I do write, I overthink it and don’t share. (That should be another point.)
So far, these are the ones I can come up with. I love Substack, really, I do. Becoming a writer/creator requires more guts than opening an account. I just need to woman up and stop self-sabotaging myself. I can do this. It’s literally just to write, and I love writing.
—EDIT—
Saw this, couldn’t remember writing this, decided to post it. Do you relate? Do you agree? Well, not to be proud or anything, but at this time, I don’t relate. Clock itttt. Sorry, my inner baddie is coming out. At this time, though, not any other time. Let’s hope it remains like this till the end of the year. That’d would be awesome, honestly.
Did you notice that all the drafts were edited on the same day? lol.
Well, see you at all of my future posts. Adios!
~Christabel ;)