I bet there are at least 40 unfinished “blog posts” saved on my desktop. They’re full of ideas the writer Elizabeth Gilbert would say came to me in hopes of being put out into the world. As her logic goes, when we don’t share what bubbles up inside us—if we don’t paint the pictures or write the songs or tell the stories—our inspiration moves on to someone else. Our creativity longs to be shared…but it won’t let us hold it back from getting out there. It will move along and spark inside someone else until it’s turned real. 

I can only imagine all the blog posts someone else has written with the ideas I didn’t follow through on!

I’ve asked myself a million times why I don’t finish what I start (it’s not limited to writing, but it particularly bothers me when it comes to creating), and I always come back to the same answer: it must be fear. Fear of writing? No. I love writing. Fear of what I write not being good enough? Yeah. Fear of not being read? Fear of no one caring? All of that. Because if no one cares what I write…then I must not matter. I must not be loved. 

Whoa, you might say. That’s a pretty big leap from readers not engaging with my blog to me not being loved…but I’m gonna be so bold as to suggest this fear isn’t unique to me. Or to my creativity. 

A therapist told me once that “Done is better than perfect.” These are very wise words. I believed them at the time and still believe them now. Why? Because there’s no such thing as perfect. And yet…it feels very real when it stands in the way of me finishing.  

It actually feels like I’ve written these words before, that I’ve put them out in the world even (in fact, they’re probably saved somewhere in my old files…). But they’ve been bubbling up in me so long I’ve got to get them out! For whatever reason, this idea has decided not to move on from me. 

Probably six months ago, I told a friend I was going to publish something every week for the next 52 weeks. I planned to open up all the unfinished pieces and just…finish them—get them done, fully embrace the inevitable imperfection of my words. And several weeks since then, I’ve urged myself to do just that. When I can set aside the terror the idea evokes, it feels so incredibly liberating to think about just having an idea, writing about it, not overthinking it, and just putting it out into the world. But, oi, the fear!

Still, I believe these words—done is better than perfect—and I really wanna live into them. 

So here’s to finishing some unfinished business.*

*You might recall the title of my blog site… Oh, how those words have come full circle!