What if Someone Else Can Write it Better?

Posted by Sara Esther Crispe
Published On Mar 4, 2021

Have you ever read something and felt like the author must be in your head, reading your mind? Have you ever written something and had someone let you know that you perfectly explained something they were feeling and couldn’t articulate?

That, my friends, is the power of writing.

 It is so easy to doubt ourselves and assume that any idea we have can be better expressed by someone else. And to be perfectly honest, it probably can be. Yes, there are incredible writers out there in the world. But they are not you. They don’t have your thoughts, your feelings, your understanding and your experiences. So even if they could perhaps write something “better” than you, they cannot write what only you can write.

 It is essential we remember this. So often we pass up on opportunities to express ourselves from our own insecurity and self-doubt. But it is a false sense of humbleness and it robs the world of something that we could have shared, and robs us of the opportunity to share with the world.

 I heard a great quote that states: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself—less.” When you doubt if you should write something, one way to motivate yourself to do so is to not think about you but to think about everyone aside from you. Think of all those people out there who may just need to read it. Think about the person going through the very same struggle as you, desperately trying to find someone who can relate, who can understand, and your piece could be that comfort and support. Assume if you are wondering if you should write, that itself is the indication that you must.

 So stop over-thinking, stop doubting, and get writing. No one else can say what you have to say in the way that only you can say it. And someone out there needs to read it but only can if you actually write it.

 One last point to get you writing… even if you never plan to show that piece of writing to anyone else, your future self needs to read it. You need to concretize and remember in the future how you are feeling today. You need to see how far you have come, how much you have grown and how clearly you have developed and changed over time. The future you is not the you today, so even if today-you doesn’t feel it is so necessary or important to write, future-you is begging you to do so.

 So on behalf of myself, the rest of the world and future-you, we thank today-you for writing…even (and specifically) because you are not sure you should!

Topics: writing advice

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