El Fin.
How a writing challenge changed my life
So, here we are. At the end, at last. It took me a while to get here, way more than the 30 days I had thought I would take but what a journey it has been. I started the writing challenge with the intention of creating something at a time when I didn’t have an outlet for expression. It slowly became something I looked forward to and gave me purpose. Not only was I creating something that was very unique to me, but I also had something to show for all the things I had experienced and what I was going through.
An idea was born
I had been toying with an idea like this for a long time but the timing never felt right. But this year was different, it felt like something I needed to do and I had the time. I decided to dedicate myself to the process and man, what a satisfying thing it is — giving in to the process and losing yourself in it. I didn’t know I could trust something to have my back to this extent.
While I was traveling, I left myself notes to remember moments and the way a few things made me feel. I continued to do it after I returned to India too. When I decided to do this challenge, I had more than 100 ideas and I chose the most relevant ones and created a calendar. I was committed and started off with a hunting mission to find relevant photos for each article and would note ideas whenever inspiration struck. Google sheets, I will never stop loving you. I also needed to consider the people I wanted to write about and in some cases, ask for their permission. Everything in my life became about writing for the next few weeks and months. My plans were built around the project and my sleep habits changed. My family kept a track of how far I had progressed. Along with writing, I began learning more about keywords, maintaining my website, and Google Analytics. This was becoming its own thing.
My ever-evolving process
During the first few days, my main aim was to post an article a day. I told myself I couldn’t go to sleep without posting each night. My laptop and this became my go-to companions. I realised very quickly that I couldn’t multi-task. Writing demanded my full attention. I also tried different timings — writing first thing in the morning, during the entire day, or last thing at night. Mornings were the clear winner, especially when I wrote standing up, as I could really concentrate. This also allowed me to breathe for the rest of the day without having to worry about the deadline. However, I am a sucker for pushing things until the very end and deadlines and I saw eye-to-eye on most days.
The more I wrote, the more my writing process continued to evolve. Until article #14, I was pretty consistent in publishing every day. This is also around the time when I started to notice that some articles didn’t feel ready to be published and needed to stay in my mind for longer. The words weren’t ready to be typed out yet. I needed to make a choice between publishing every day and publishing an article I was proud of and I chose the latter. I didn’t want to publish an article until I felt right. I tried not to be too hard on myself because I knew I was ‘failing’ the challenge. Even if I wasn’t publishing an article, I found that I was still writing on most days.
I have to admit that this bargain gave rise to complacency to a certain extent. Once I let the pressure of publishing everyday go, I wasn’t accountable on a daily basis. I wasn’t as motivated as I was earlier and I needed to go back to why I started this in the first place more times than I would have liked. That was a difficult slump to get out of.
Being vulnerable and authentic
Around the same time, new experiences and important conversations entered my life and I decided to be present and soak them up. My topics were constantly changing at this point and so did my articles. They became more personal and took me longer to complete. Internal back and forth and questioning entered my process, all of them asking if I was being my most authentic self. And when I was writing about someone else, I had to ask myself If I was representing them in their most authentic self.
Some of the articles weren’t easy to write. They needed honesty and vulnerability from me and I found myself resisting them. If I were to be completely honest, I started this journey and was writing solely for myself and maybe for my future self for when she would go through immense life changes and questions who she is. When people started connecting to what I was writing, it was a pleasant surprise. Goes on to show that we’re not alone after all. That thing we’re convinced is happening only to us is also happening to someone else. Who would’ve thunk?
My life and I have been transformed in many small ways since I started the 30 days of writing and I owe a lot of the confidence and strength to the project. It’s an inexplicable feeling and I don’t have the words but I feel the change. It shows in how I interact with my world, the experiences I have had, and the opportunities that have come into in my life in the last four months. I’m grateful for the people, the universe, and most importantly, myself for showing up constantly and taking this project to the end that I had envisioned for it. I’ve learnt so much through this process about writing, discipline, patience, and the importance of being kind to myself. I will miss it but I know that I can always come back to it. With this, it comes to an end. Thank you to everyone that read my articles, connected with them, and took the time out to heal. We’re in this together!
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A roundup of the articles that did really well in terms of the views, comments I received, and how much people were able to connect with them.