Creation.

Creation can be a very complicated and overwhelming concept.

Having the freedom to create can be a very powerful thing, but with great power comes great responsibility.

In journalism, creation is something we face every single day.

We begin each new story as a blank canvas, using our skills and expertise as a means to fill the space.

With each key stroke, we try to use our gift of language to effectively convey the issue at hand.

Sometimes, however, that can be harder to do than usual.

Writer’s block, as cliché as it sounds, is real.

So incredibly real, in fact, it can stop even the most prolific of writers, leaving them helpless to the beast known as literature.

Why do I bring this up, you ask?

Because, the struggle that is writer’s block is happening to me at this very moment.

On a good day, writing can come really naturally to me. I can pick up a pen, grab a notebook and the ideas just start flowing from there.

When I’m ready, I’m ready.

But some days, more often than not, especially lately, I’ve been having the inexplicable lack of inspiration.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my thesis has been officially begun taking up an insane amount of my time, as well as my brain.

I wake up every morning and begin scheduling time out of my day to make sure I dedicate the time I need to do other things.

That’s right, most people would choose to organize the day based off of the work that they have but I schedule the day around the time I need to regroup.

It’s sounds counterproductive, especially when work begins to accumulate, but I need to do this in order to, for lack of a better term, stay sane.

Every. Single. Day. (Image via GIPHY)

This past week, I had to revamp my entire schedule with my personal trainer and I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to try and accommodate the time necessary to even go to the gym for an hour at least 4 days a week.

Little things, like free time, we take for granted, until we don’t have them anymore.

Before, I wouldn’t do things like go to the gym or read a book for fun because I just didn’t feel like it.

Now, I would do anything to have the time to do it.

My lifeline

Now, you may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with the idea of creation?”

Well, my friends, therein lies the answer.

When you don’t give yourself the freedom to relax and do something other than work all the time, you eventually place yourself in a space where creation can’t happen.

If there is one thing I’ve learned while here at Columbia, among many things, is knowing that I have to give myself the space and freedom to refresh and regroup in order to create.

The more that I can do that for myself, the better.