How Lost Are We? Or, Is It Just That We’ve Chosen to Forget?

I am a writer.

Yet, I forget to write.

Well, no. That’s wrong.

I don’t write sometimes because I’m afraid.

Pre-occupied.

Thinking…well, maybe my words aren’t as solid as ChatGPT (and as I write this Grammarly tried with everything it has to alter my chosen words and sentence structure—reminding me of that high school teacher that redlines everything and tried to make you into something you aren’t…more like everyone else. Fuck Grammarly, for now at least).

Or, sometimes I’ve been told that sitting around writing is a waste of time when other things need to be focused on.

But, what gave people like Steinbeck, Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare, and others the right to write, but not me (or you)?

An aside: As I was thinking of which writers I wanted to mention above, I did a quick Google search for “Most famous writers” and here were the results:

All fucking men except for one (Thank you Jane A.) came up ;-P Ha, not that I don’t like men, but hell what is Google trying to say???

Could that be a reason I question…why write?

The excuses are just silly stuff, right?

When a writer chooses not to write, words, concepts, and half-baked ideas get stuck inside. Then it all manifests in our tissues, in our bones, and in our tears.

This post isn’t meant to be long. Just a reminder — that I need to get in here more regularly. That I need to turn Grammarly off. Give ChatGPT the finger and write my heart out.

This morning, I was reading a beautiful book that I found back in the early 2000s in Los Angeles about the life of photojournalist Dan Eldon. In his journal, he wrote:

“Don’t run your body like a gas station. Fight the power. Look for solutions, not problems. Seek clarity of vision.”

What is my vision? What is it????

It’s weird. I have no clue right now.

If I were to write a book, I barely know what it would be about.

Should I be frightened?

Maybe?

Is it a sign that the best things to come are on the way?

The world is so noisy these days—so many experts and opinions. People (sometimes me too) scrolling mindlessly through Instagram or Facebook feeds—I think to numb something. Many things.

We are foregoing nature and walks and connections with real (in the flesh) people to get stuck in virtual worlds.

How long are we spending choreographing dances that may go viral?

Taking selfies while the most beautiful and exquisite intricacies of life are passing us by?

Yes, I’m a writer.

And now I’ve written.

Phew, all those thoughts above put out into the ether.

Maybe nobody will read them, and that’s perfectly okay. Or okej, as my Norwegian grandfather would have said.

Now, I go back to my world and go adventure in nature with my pups.