Bring-a-smile challenge
Bring a smile on somebody’s face with your stories.
It took me one month to muster up the courage to write and publish after starting my membership account on Medium. And I am sure it would be more than that without the challenge I gave to myself to reframe nervousness.
It worked. Now I feel nervous about not writing. 🙃
Then I start reading like mad in order to learn all the tricks and tips necessary to help me ”to break the algorithm” or ”to became a top writer” or ”to go from zero to hero” as fast as is possible. To gain followers and count the money pouring in my account.
Luckily, I am a fast learner. Or at least faster than I was in the past. It took me no more than two weeks to understand that I was focusing on the wrong things. On taking and gaining instead giving, serving, learning and enjoying learning. And writing.
Focusing on having followers made me unsecure. It is hard enough to write, to take the raw experience and find the words to make it a compelling story. Why make it harder thinking about statistics and shortcuts instead of learning the discipline to write? For me, it sounds like the perfect recipe for losing the joy and the passion. The perfect recipe for missing the target.
So I started writing for no other purpose than to get better. I do not believe in shortcuts. Not when it comes to growth and fulfilment.
I still read the tips for the beginners. I like the way people take their time to give same help to newbies. I love the way people are supporting each others. It is so much better than other of the social platform, where most of the content is a hard to ignore static of nastiness.
What made me feel even more grateful to be here was that the encouragement came from writers who are going through the same trials themselves. Some of those who pressed “follow” after reading my articles had not written anything for a long time. The fact that they took the time to read and appreciate something written by a beginner was very encouraging to me.
So I decided to pay it forward. Here is my challenge for the ones who are struggling:
Write an article about something heart-warming that happened to you. Maybe something related to Christmas. Or with your childhood. Anything that makes you smile when you remember it. Publish it. Tag me. I will follow you.
This is it. Just bring a smile on somebody's face with your story. No strings attached. You do not need to follow me back. Just write. Write for you, for the joy of writing, for the power of sharing.
I can`t wait to read your stories. 💖
