Hi writer,
we’re at the end of January and – now apparently is the moment – most of us have deserted our new year’s resolutions. Hurray?
So in case you are like most people full of ambition but lacking follow through, I think it is the perfect time to introduce the concept to: begin, again.
Yesterday in the Sunday Essay Club we talked about Joan Didion’s iconic first published essay On Self-Respect and having read it now a few times over, researching all the references and meanings, what still struck out to me the most, is that true self-respect isn’t about being a respectable person e.g. liked by everyone but a person that takes accountability, radical accountability for themself and their actions. “To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves—there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect.”
And I think allowing yourself to begin again is exactly that, too. To not buy into the excuses we make ourselves – why we didn’t do the things we wanted to do and then continue to not do them. But to say: I have to begin, again.
Simple as that.
Begin, again.
Begin, again.
Until you forget whether you’re beginning again or you’re doing again or it’s just again.
May today’s writing prompt be a springboard for exactly that.