Start Close In

I'm committed to blogging every week. I’ve accomplished this almost 100% for the last few weeks.

This week I’ve struggled. I’ve written things that feel out of alignment with me. They feel forced. I’ve deleted a lot. I’ve judged a lot. I’ve started over a few times.

I’ve been battling resistance. Resistance. Those friendly, I mean unfriendly voices in our heads that talk us out of doing stuff we want to do. The naggy, judgy, saboteurs that talk too much. They’ve blocked my writing flow. Sometimes they’ve even kept me from showing up at the page.

That’s where I’m at.

Today, I followed the breadcrumbs and ended up discovering this poem. The voices got quiet when I read it.

Really quiet.

I decided to start close in, with the first step, the one I didn’t want to take. I opened the blog and began exactly where I am. Out of the flow. But here nevertheless.

START CLOSE IN

Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.

Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.

Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.

To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice

becomes an
intimate
private ear
that can
really listen
to another.

Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.

Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.

~~David Whyte