GG is for Gigantic Gaps
What is this Gigantic Gap?
It is unavoidable that I cannot always be actively writing – either my blog or my novel. Since 3rd March, I have furthered the novel significantly. It’s this website that has been neglected for over one month.
But …I can’t always put into words what I’m going through until the words come to me.
It’s no secret I have a life often interrupted by the annoying, unpredictable symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis – a good place to learn about MS is the MS Trust. Please do.
Gaps Can Be Filled
What I am learning is patience, the practice of letting go. What I cannot abide is Doing Nothing. So, when the normal rhythm of my daily life is not flowing, I do the things I love. They are related to my writing life:
- Reading fiction
- Researching non-fiction
- Watching TV dramas
- Watching films
- Listening to music
- Dancing (badly)
- Enjoying time with loved ones (never enough)
After Each Enforced Gap
I return to my regular writing refreshed, full of wonder at how enjoyable sitting here can be. My head has been ticking over with ideas and progress even while I was feeling useless. I’m learning to wait for the end of each MS episode, knowing I will be back here again. I’m being patient with myself. I’m permitting myself to be …not ill as such …just laid aside.
What is Your Gap?
You may enjoy good health – hoorah for that. You may be working full-time still – hope it’s something you adore doing. You might be a carer, a parent, a retiree, a student – but you are also, by virtue of visiting me here – likely to be either a reader or a writer.
Your gaps might be planned – they may be the time you set aside to read and write rather than being a negative period like mine.
Your gaps might, just like mine, be enforced and unpredictable.
Celebrate the Gaps
I offer you this thought, a nugget of wisdom I’ve earned/learned.
Allow yourself the time your body and mind require to both exercise and rest.
It really is that simple. And very hard to achieve for creative people who want to be productive all the time. The truth is, human beings cannot be doing things constantly. We need to oil our joints and feed our engines. We need to switch off. We need to leave the motor ticking over.
To paraphrase a well-known saying – be still and know that you are you.
Who Started the Idea that a Gap is Negative?
I blame schools (and some workplaces). Any headteacher or governing body that instigates the 100% Attendance Certificate is doing a disservice to their students. I have two reasons for saying this:
- being ill can be an infectious state – DON’T encourage viruses and germs to be spread at school
- being ill is inevitable and only by taking the time to rest will we ever recuperate.
How Can We Make All Our Gaps Positive?
I will leave you to consider your response but I encourage you to make a pledge to use time aside – whether through circumstance or ill-health – whether by choice or enforced – WISELY.
Let you creativity tick along in the background, feed it with literature and art and music. Spend time with loved ones. Don’t be afraid to stop working. While you are absent from the writing itself, your mind is still active, your heart is still beating, you are collecting thoughts, experiences, processes. It’s all WRITING material.
More writing practice at ABC Alliterative Title Challenge.
