Day 2 - The Power of Starting: My First Steps in a 365-Day Writing Adventure

Journal Entry Day 2: Overcome procrastination through daily writing discipline, embracing personal growth, and finding your authentic voice, fostering a sense of community and shared journey

Hello! If you're new around here, my name is Krystal and I've committed to journaling every day for a year. I write these raw journal entries. What is unique about my style of writing is that I don't necessary follow the rules or writing. My aim is to write as closely to how I talk. What you will also find in my journal entries is transparency. I give you front row seat to my inner dialogue. That inner critic who shows up from time to time, I show you exactly when it shows up and how I shift. My hope is that I inspire you to keep on going despite what your inner critic is telling you in the moment.

Let's Jump in!

March 1st, 2024

I already I tried to negotiate with myself to not write. I was thinking, I wrote so much yesterday that I probably don't need to write again today. 

Ah a trap! That my silly little ego mind was trying to set for me. 

And I'm committed. So here we go on day two.

As I step out onto this path I'm wondering where on earth it will actually take me. 

I can see myself thirty years from now looking back at this time and being so thankful for my past self for just getting started. Just being committed. While a little fuzzy and hazy as I think about the future me. I know she is proud of the books I’ve written, the events I’ve spoken at and how this really has become my life's work. 

How cool will it be to see this collection of words years from now. I wonder what I will dream up on these pages and how they will manifest into the future. I'm actually pretty excited about having a log of my life. The plan here is not to have a plan. Just to write and see where it takes me.

And I feel it necessary to say this, as if it gives me the creative freedom to keep writing.

No one may ever read my journal anyway, so why should I worry so much about what I write. For those who stumble across it I hope you find joy in it and inspiration.

I don't know why I feel compelled to talk about the burrito meat I made the other day. But I guess I feel like It’s worth mentioning. My kids love taco bell soft tacos and with the price of tacos, I could spend way less money making them at home. So I went to Aldi, picked out the perfect ground beef, and mini tortillas, and pulled up a recipe, 

This recipe was also streamed live on TikTok as (65 year old me just chuckled at the words tiktok as she went back and read this -- reflecting on how far the world has come since then). 

I made the beef, and it was not bad. The only thing I would change this time would be to use different onion powder. I used the fine powder onion powder which I didn’t actually know was a thing. I’ll have to look up the difference and the purpose. My guess is that the fine powder is for soups because when it hits moisture, it just goes and provides a TON of flavor. And some onion flavor is good, but this was too much.

So would I make it again? Yes! Just with different onion powder.

Ok now that I’ve got that out of my system. 

I'm genuinely excited now about this process. I know that there will be days that I don't feel like writing, and that's ok. I'm going to lean in any way.

I believe this will teach me a level of discipline that I’ve not known before. The most consistent I’ve been at something was for 6 months keeping to a fitness program. And I ended up burning myself out. 

And that is possible with this as well, however, I know a tool that can help prevent burnout. Which is:

Vision x commitment x why it matters. 

If I can connect myself with the vision, and why it matters along with this commitment, I wont get burnt out. If any of those things are missing, the whole equation wont work. 

So before I write each day, I get to ask myself what the vision is and why it matters.

Now is a good time to ask myself those questions.

The vision is to write for 365 days straight. I see myself 30 years from now being so proud of myself for the work I put in now.  It matters because I get to practice. I get to teach myself discipline, I get to inspire others to do something like this. 

I'm only on this planet once and if I want to do a 365 writing challenge, then I'm going to do it and see what happens. I say this again because I can hear my inner critic start to chirp up saying “blogging is dead” “no one reads blogs any more” “you’re going to put so much time into this and no one is going to read it” “it's not going to bring you the success you think it will” 

Ok great, thank you for sharing worry bug, worst case scenario this goes into the void and no one reads it. Cool. a year from now I will have become a better writer, I will have gained better discipline, I will have accomplished something amazing! And I’ll have skills now that can last me the rest of my life. 

It makes me think of the girl who just posted her 1 year recap of being on youtube. She has 180 subscribers after a year of posting. And she posted a video of her celebrating her one year. That one video got 100k+ views and she gained over 7000 subscribers in a few days. 

So that's what i'm looking forward to. I don’t know when the inflection point will be, however, I'm building a consistent muscle and finding my voice as a writer and just as a human being. 

I love writing because things land on these pages that I didn't know were there. It lights up my soul in ways I can't explain.

I’m so thankful for all the writers before me. I love getting into books. I love reading.

A little back story, It wasn't until College or after college that I really started to write. I never actually really liked writing. I think it was because i had some tough teachers in highschool I remember some gray and wiry haired lady who took pride in making writing hard. 

Ok…ummm….thats fine if you want to be a tough teacher. But there was no love or warmth behind there. I’ve had teachers in the past who were tough, but they had an air of warmth and love about them. I could tell that they were being tough out of love. 

This other teacher was just being tough and had a chip on her shoulder. Which put a bad taste in my mouth about writing. 

Fast forward to college. I had a teacher who was teaching literature. She was a bit goofy and had 80’s style fluffy hair. Always wore clothes that were 2 sizes too tight, and was full of passion for what she was teaching. 

She had us write papers. And because she was so passionate, it made me want to pour my passion into writing. And I did. I wrote a paper that I was really proud of. I paid attention to the mechanics, flow, fluidity, all that and I ended up getting an A+ on the paper. I was then able to help my classmates with their papers. Helping them rearrange edit, make it make sense. That was the first time I actually started to appreciate the process of writing. 

Fast forward another few years after college. I was in a bit of a quarterlife crisis (which I’ll write on more later) and I stumbled on a blog that was really inspiring. It was the first time that I was like, wow, this writing is really good and moved me. 

These were regular women blogging about life. It inspired me to write. I got my old HP laptop out and just started typing away. In just a few short minutes (what it felt like) I had typed out 6 pages single spaced. After that I  felt so free in my life. A feeling I had never really felt in my life.

It was as if my soul had just lit up. I declared that day I’d start writing and journaling from that day forward. I bought a journal from Barnes and Noble (which I still have to this day 12+ years later) and began my writing journey. 

I’ve been pretty consistently journaling since then and it really was just a way to process my emotions.

I could tell how I was feeling by how messy or clean my writing was. The more messy, the more chaotic i was feeling, and the more clean the more peace I was feeling on the inside. 

And as I sit here, in a hotel lobby, about to go into the third weekend of a transformational leadership training that I’ve been coaching. I'm reflecting on this journey that I haven't revisited before or at least in a long time. The significance of these seemingly small things that changed the trajectory of my life. 

At the point in this writing, I quit my corporate consulting job because I knew that there was so much more for me. I was working so hard writing and creating things for other people. 

Learning things that I didn't really want to learn because I didn't see my future there. Sure I could have made it work, but I didn't want to just make life work. I wanted to thrive in my life. And committed to thriving in my life.

I’ll keep saying this because I have finally found it to be true for me.

We only have one life. This is it! So why spend it worrying about what other people think.

I also used to think that I was so far behind everyone else. Why start a blog or something when there are so many other people who are already so far ahead of me. 

Then I had to remember that there are 7 billion + people in this world. 

I'm currently 35 which means that on average half the population is younger than me! That is 3.5 billion people that I'm head of in life.

Which also means that there are people who will be starting their own journeys and careers way after me.

Could you imagine that if all those people never started anything, because they all believed it was too late or someone else was doing it…haha it's kinda comical to think about … because then there would be no new business started. No new creations. I mean If anything I'm like why didn't I start sooner?

The thing was I just wasn't ready. My audience wasn't ready. 

But now that I'm ready. They are ready too. 

I have no idea who my tribe is just yet. But I know you’re out there. And I just get to put myself out there and I know naturally we will find each other. 

So my mission is to just be my authentic self.. Throwing out all the red tape of all the conventional ways of doing things. All the “best practices” of how it should be done. 

I’ve always danced to the beat of my own drum and that rhythm inspired other people. So why would this be any different. 

So ya, I'm not going to write perfect sentences. I'm not going to write in perfect flow. Sure I’ll clean it up a little bit, but I'm writing how I want to write. Write like a human being. So that other human beings can connect with me.

Insert song adiemus by adiemus lol this song is perfect. Its tribal and it feels like a journey and adventure. And the main singer finds her tribe and they are all singing together. 

Until next time!

Much love,

Love Krystal