Writing is like fighting with entropy.
As a basic rule of physics, and as anyone who has ever cleaned a cluttered, neglected home, it requires much more energy to organize it than it does to make it messy. Going from neat to chaotic can happen quickly, and bringing things back into order can take a great deal of time and effort.
Writing can feel the same way. Often, the start of my writing comes from a small, unfinished idea birthed from a moment of inspiration or from a large, difficult-to-explain concept that has been circling and growing within my mind. When one tries to put these thoughts into words, one is taking an entropic idea and trying to create order and logic from it to share it with others—bringing thoughts from nebulous and chaotic and narrowing them into a concise sentence to convey a specific meaning.
As a reader enjoying the work of someone else, whether it's a sentence, song lyric, or a poetic stanza, it is far easier to break the string of words apart, dissect, and analyze them, whether it's to critique or form your own meaning or understanding. Like the law of entropy or the burning of a newly finished building, it requires far less energy to break something down than it did to build it.
So, as a writer or any form of artist, creator, or builder, recognize and honor the pace at which you move and the time it requires to build your masterpiece. Your tempo needn't be rushed; this work takes time and energy. It should be nourished and tended to with love, for it can be mentally taxing and incredibly difficult to put feelings and ideas into words, especially when your thoughts are as expansive as the universe. Like trees growing roots below the ground, our minds are constantly widening their connections with the world around us in silent and unseen ways. Below the surface, our hearts are learning to navigate the world, processing the never-ending input we receive from the people around us and the world's events that are constantly in flux.
And so, I also commend, thank, and cherish the writers, lyricists, poets, essayists, journalists, thinkers, creators, and builders who have come before me and the ones who live with me. So bravely, you grasp and pull down words and concepts from the ethers of the universe, delivering formed thoughts to the world so that people might gain perspective and deepen their understanding of others. We are all connected, and words are the strings that bring us together, regardless of distance, reminding us of our ties to one another, our similarities, and our responsibilities to love and help one another.
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