When inspiration doesn't pay you a visit

You pivot and write anyway.

AI image generated with Dall•E

It’s Friday at 2:46 PM, and I have not written a single word except this sentence and the title. I’ve been doubting until now if I should even write and publish. Maybe I can skip this one. If I don’t have anything useful to say, why even bother?

But then I know myself. Skipping once becomes skipping twice, and before I know it, The Bored Millennial dies a slow and silent death. And we don’t want that.

I have some post ideas lined up, but with only 3 more hours to catch my self-imposed deadline, I don’t want to write those. They need more time, dedication,, and quality. Also, I’ve been clearly procrastinating on this week's edition; otherwise, I would not be facing my current problem.

But now that the time is here to write, inspiration is not knocking on my door. So what do you do? You get inspired by others.

I recently read this post from

Alexis Damen

, and thought, maybe I could do something similar and share what I’ve been into the past weeks.

5 things I'm into lately

Thank you Alexis, for being my inspiration 🧡

📖 Big Magic from Elizabeth Gilbert

For everyone who has read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, you will notice some sentences above are also inspired by her writing. I’ve never read anything by her—she is famous for writing Eat, Pray, Love—but I immediately fell in love with her writing style. It’s funny, witty, and reads very smoothly.

I’m almost halfway, but here are some quotes I’ve highlighted:

Q: What is creativity?

A: The relationship between a human being and the mysteries of inspiration

As Joan Didion said, “I don’t know what I think until I write about it.”

Every time you express a complaint about how difficult and tiresome it is to be creative, inspiration takes another step away from you, offended.

So try saying this: “I enjoy my creativity”

Recognizing this reality - that the reaction doesn’t belong to you - is the only sane way to create. … Just smile sweetly and suggest - as politely as you possibly can - that they go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours.

In the safe world in which you and I most likely live, the stakes of our creative expression are low.

🌺 Flowers

Since moving here, my house has been continuously filled with flowers. Every time I look at them, I feel grateful and happy. There’s just something with flowers that fills my heart with joy.

My current flower collection

As you can see, I have these Lego flowers. I was never into Lego as a kid—I was a Barbie girl—but I got gifted the Lego flower set for Christmas. I love building these as an adult, but I also love them in the interior. They bring color, especially now that we are losing daylight again.

🎧 Discover Weekly on Spotify

As a teenager, I was a big fan of discovering new music. We used questionable tactics to download new songs on our MP3 players. Then, on the playground in high school, we shared an ear pod and listened to each other’s music. It ranged from rock to techno to melancholic music. It was awesome. Then, we would go to festivals to see them play live.

Now, I still go to festivals, but the number of artists I know of is sad compared to my younger days.

Honestly, I would also not know where to start discovering these days. On the radio they mostly play the Taylor Swifts of this world, and even if a radio plays more alternative music, the radio is so annoying to listen to. So much talking, so little music.

Now I’m listening again to my Discover Weekly on Spotify, which is pretty good most of the time. However, it stays in one genre of music, while I have a very diverse taste. Overall, this feature is broadening my knowledge of music again!

How do you discover new music?

🧡 Reconnecting with old friends

Since being back in Belgium, I’m slowly finding my place again in the new house and my relationship with my friends. I’ve been pretty focused on myself, and if I don’t force myself, I will stay cozy at home most of the time. This means my calendar is freed up in the evenings and weekends, which also means there’s a lot of room for spontaneous meetups, which is awesome. I’ve always said spontaneous events are the best.

This week, I reconnected with some friends from university; it had been years since we’d seen each other, and it felt like no years had passed. This happened at random. One of the friends was speaking at a library, and another friend saw it and texted me to ask if I didn’t want to join. I was hesitant but decided to do it. When I arrived, another friend from Uni was there as well. So it was a happy reunion.

Another friend texted me that she needed to get out of her place, so we spent our Saturday evening together, eating sushi and catching up. I had an unexpected lunch and a walk with my parents. I invited some friends to have dinner at my place… Suddenly, my week was filled with meetups and reunions. And it felt so good.

💵 Investing in myself

As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I was on the fence about making a big investment. I decided to do it and enrolled in the Ghostwriting course on Monday. I still feel excited about this decision. I'm super curious about where it will take me and my writing.

Then, I also decided it was time to get a decent chair, desk, and monitor.

I’ve been working on my laptop and a bad chair since February, and I feel it’s so bad for my posture and back. So, after doing my research, I ordered a SecretLab Pro desk and a Leitz Ergo Cozy seat. And I’ll go buy a new monitor in the store because I want to see the quality with my own eyes. 👀

It’s a lot at once and painful for the wallet, but I’ve been postponing this like forever. Now, doing the 75 Hard Challenge, I started realizing how important it is to care for our bodies. If not for now, then for when we are older. So, I’m making these investments for the older Marie.

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Earnings week 33

I posted another video update on my 75 Hard Challenge and I crossed 2 big milestones this week!

• Crossed the 4000 subscribers mark

• Crossed the 9000 followers mark

That’s huge 😍 numbers like 5K and 10K feel in reach. However, growth on Substack has remarkably slowed down for me, in all transparency. I know these are very high numbers compared to some, but then low numbers compared to others. For the Bored Millennial, however, I’ve never experienced such slow growth in the last couple of weeks. The same is true for engagement, which is less than before.

Now, this could be my own doing, as I'm not as active anymore, or the algorithm has changed, or it’s a combination of both. I’ve had weeks where I was more active and weeks where I was less active, seeing barely a difference. I also changed direction with my content since July. But until the beginning of September, those posts were performing very well. So it’s hard to pinpoint what’s going on. I am, however, not very worried. I’m in this for the long run anyway. I have time.

Or, as Liz Gilbert writes:

“You think you can scare me off? I’ve got another eighty years to wear you down! There are people who haven’t even been born yet who are gonna reject me someday-that’s how long I plan to stick around.”

I love that mindset.

Going nowhere.

Just so you know.

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Here are the numbers:

I’m wondering who is interested in this spreadsheet.

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It’s now 3:52 PM and I’m surprised how many words I managed to write down. And I actually enjoyed the process.

You see, sometimes you just have to start.

Now I’m gonna create the AI image and enjoy my weekend!

Thank you for reading, and have an amazing weekend!

With love,

Marie

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