Dead Set on Living: Making the Difficult but Beautiful Journey From F#*king Up to Waking Up by Chris Grosso & Alice Peck

Author:Chris Grosso & Alice Peck [Grosso, Chris & Peck, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spirituality, Psychology, Self-Help, Non-Fiction, Addiction, Drugs, Recovery
ISBN: 9781501173998
Amazon: 1501173979
Goodreads: 36101076
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2018-03-06T05:00:00+00:00

I too had found freedom in writing. It has been a very cathartic experience for me, one I’ve often suggested that others try. But after hearing multiple times that people felt intimidated by the idea because “I’m not a writer,” it made me wonder what advice J. had for people who shared that concern. Or even for those who were open to the idea but just didn’t know how to get started.

J.’s advice was not to think about it, to do it. “It sounds simple, but I know over the years when I’ve found myself flowing, I was writing, writing, writing, but then I hit what’s called writer’s block, and that’s when I found I was overthinking it, telling myself: ‘It has to be this. It has to be good.’ When I take myself out of that space and write down whatever comes to mind, I’m not thinking about if it’s good or not good. I’m just putting it onto the page.

“I tell people it’s like meditation. It’s a matter of being still and listening. Writing is the next step in. ‘Okay, I’m still. I’m listening. Whatever I hear I’m going to write down. I’m not going to think about what I’m hearing. I’m going to write it down, and then from there, I’ll structure and rewrite and go back through it.’ Be free with it. Don’t have any expectations. Don’t have any reservations. Don’t give in to fear. A lot of people harbor fear, and that’s huge. It will get in the way. Often people are worried about what other people will think, but don’t worry about that. What do you think? Don’t worry about it being good or bad. Feel it. Whatever you feel, write that down.

“I’ve found that if I feel it, other people feel it. If I like it, other people love it. It’s a matter of being confident and knowing that you have a gift. You have an amazing ability to put thoughts together. Be still. Listen. And write.”

I loved that. One important piece of advice J. gave was not to worry what other people think. Many people, including me, will stop in the middle of writing because they begin to compare themselves to other writers. Learning to let go of that is huge. The other thing that works well for me is to write like today is my last day on Earth, my last day of being alive. Write with that kind of passion and abandonment. Pretend this is your last chance to sit down and write, so let it all out. Fuck what anyone else thinks.

J. connected with what I was saying, too, when he worked on his verse for the song “Never Let Me Down” on Kanye West’s College Dropout. He asked himself, “What if I never get another opportunity like this one?” Writing out of desperation pulls something out of you, and it makes listening even easier. Another important piece of advice is not to let your ego get in the way, because your ego is the part of you that makes you think about what everybody will say.

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