Remixing Permission

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

Teenagers do the damnedest things sometimes.

In my (virtual) class a student decided to write an essay based on a writing prompt I shared with the class. The only problem is that I didn’t assign the essay yet. I just showed it to them and we talked about it for maybe 10 minutes? This student didn’t ask for clarification, didn’t ask for a due date, didn’t ask how long the essay should be (a rarity in a high school English class), and, get this, the student didn’t even ask if the essay was going to be graded. Hell, she didn’t even complain about writing an essay the second week of school.

And yet, she took it upon herself to just write the essay. No walls to break down. Nothing to crush the young writer’s confidence before writing the first word. This student gave herself permission to just do the work and let the results be as they may.

If a teenager can just crank out an essay on a topic without any direction or support or guidance or even a due date, why can’t adult writers just sit down and write? What’s holding you back from giving yourself permission to just sit down, write some shit on the page, and let it just be that? Maybe it’s the expectations. Maybe it’s the pressure of perfection. Maybe it goes against somebody else’s vision for your life that you’ve mistakenly accepted as your own.

Whatever the reason just know that it’s not a reason - it’s an excuse. It’s a choice. And a choice to not do something can also be flipped into a choice for doing something. An excuse for not doing something should be the exact reason why you should do that thing you want to do.

So here’s what I want you to do right now (after reading my blog): stand in front of a mirror and just stare into your eyes for a few minutes. Really look into your own eyes. Look for the person sitting behind your eyes. Once you find that person tell them you give them permission to write whatever they want. No judgement. No guidance. No support. No due date.

Give yourself permission to write what the REAL you wants to write.