#144 Why Write Again
because you can’t live your life twice, but writing is the closest you will come to it.
Dearest,
I am trying to get into the habit of writing for 30 minutes every day. Yea, it’s been 7 days (resolution, you guessed that right!). Let’s see how it goes.
Before I show you the almost-poem that I wrote a couple of days ago, here are some arguments in favor of why one should start writing again if they have stopped for some reason:
Why write again
Because my thoughts have been naked for way too long. And they don’t mind if the clothes are a little too big with shoulder pads sagging, if they are unironed and have more creases than worries on baba’s forehead, or if they are someone else’s, borrowed for a week and never returned.
Because the other day, I slipped and broke my heart, and although, out of habit, I quickly picked all the pieces, I had nothing to place them in.
Because at some point, one needs to realize that they are married to life, and as a bride, it is their one true job to witness the spectacular failures, cherish the gentle mess, and celebrate out loud the greatest love story they will ever be a part of.
Because as one ages and thinks they are beyond kindness, they deserve a soft place to return to where nothing is yet lost, where every dream you dreamt and forgot is waiting patiently for you to come home.
Because you can’t live your life twice, but writing is the closest you will come to it.
Now here’s the scribble I wrote:
Remember to be kind to yourself when you try to find the words again. And trust the process. Well, that’s what I am telling myself. 😊
Some verses:
#1 Excerpt from ‘Silentium!’ by Fyodor Tyutchev
Speak not, lie hidden, and conceal
the way you dream, the things you feel.
Deep in your spirits let them rise
akin to stars in crystal skies
that set before the night is blurred:
delight in them and speak no word.
#2 [It would be neat if with the New Year] by Jimmy Santiago Baca
It would be neat if with the New Year
I could leave my loneliness behind with the old year.
My leathery loneliness an old pair of work boots
my dog vigorously head-shakes back and forth in its jaws,
chews on for hours every day in my front yard—
rain, sun, snow, or wind
in bare feet, pondering my poem,
I’d look out my window and see that dirty pair of boots in the yard.
But my happiness depends so much on wearing those boots.
At the end of my day
while I’m in a chair listening to a Mexican corrido
I stare at my boots appreciating:
all the wrong roads we’ve taken, all the drug and whiskey houses
we’ve visited, and as the Mexican singer wails his pain,
I smile at my boots, understanding every note in his voice,
and strangers, when they see my boots rocking back and forth on my
feet
keeping beat to the song, see how
my boots are scuffed, tooth-marked, worn-soled.
I keep wearing them because they fit so good
and I need them, especially when I love so hard,
where I go up those boulder strewn trails,
where flowers crack rocks in their defiant love for the light.
#3 Excerpt from The Return by Mary Oliver
Sometimes I really believe it, that I am going to
save my life
a little.
Some soft wisdom
When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Watch: 12th Fail on Netflix (Next on my watching list: Good Grief and Three of Us)
Master the Love Language: How Good Are You at Communication in Love? Questionnaire
Current read: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
“I think business networking is a complete waste of time. And I know there are people and companies popularizing this concept because it serves them and their business model well, but the reality is if you’re building something interesting, you will always have more people who will want to know you. Trying to build business relationships well in advance of doing business is a complete waste of time. I have a much more comfortable philosophy: “Be a maker who makes something interesting people want. Show your craft, practice your craft, and the right people will eventually find you.”
In the next edition, I will be sharing my thoughts on the book.
Until then!
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See you next Sunday,
Love, Riya
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I needed this. Thank you