What's stopping you? by Lynda Alsford

Photo by Denise Mattox (licence)

I remember my step-brother Peter having a small brown plate hanging on his wall when we were younger. The wording told me it was called a Round Tuit. His version had a poem attached to it that said now he had a round tuit just think of all those jobs he could get done that he said he would do when he got a round to it. 

I could do with a round tuit now. I seem to have hit a brick wall as far as my writing goes over the last year or so. This blog is the only thing I have been writing regularly. 

In part this blockage is due to a very difficult year or so for various reasons. Now though, things are slowly beginning to look upwards again. So, I want to get back into expressing myself through my words again. But I still don't seem to be doing it. Where is that round tuit? I could do with it. 

If I want to do it, why don't I do it? As I write that sentence, I can hear echos of St Paul from Romans Chapter 7:15-16. 

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

Obviously, St Paul is talking about sin, and not writing, but the struggle is there. And it helps to know I am not the only one who struggles to do what I want to do. 

Photo by Jan Kahanek via Unsplash

Perhaps it is fear that is stopping me. Fear that I am not good enough. Fear that no one would want to read what I write. Or perhaps it is laziness? After a long day at work where I spend all day looking at a computer screen, I come home tired and am not inclined to spend more time doing the same thing. Maybe that means I need to get out my notebook and pencil. Mind you, at some point if I want to publish what I write, it must be entered into a computer. 

Maybe it is a mixture of all these things, fear, tiredness and laziness. Knowing what is stopping me helps me plan to write. I can learn to get enough rest to overcome tiredness. And I can just step out in faith, and write, put my words out there and see what happens. Whatever the reaction I can learn from it and move on to improve my writing the next time. 

Photo by Sergey Zolkin via Unsplash

I want to start a new blog called 'Seeking the Healer', which will focus on sharing insights into my journey to freedom through Christ. It's been on my heart for a while but I have done nothing. I am motivated to write this post for More Than Writers each month because I have a deadline for it. I need to have a blog post by the 16th of every month. It motivates me. Perhaps I need to set my own deadline for my writing. 

What about you? Do you need a round tuit? What stops you doing the things you want to but never get around to? 

Lynda Alsford is a sea loving, cat loving GP administrator and writes in her spare time. She has written two books, He Never Let Go describes her journey through a major crisis of faith whilst working as an evangelist at a lively Church in Chiswick, West London. Being Known describes how God set her free from food addiction. Both books are available in paperback and on kindle on  Amazon.co.uk  and  Amazon.com. She writes a newsletter called Seeking the Healer, in which she shares the spiritual insights she has gained on her journey. When she finally starts her blog, it will also be called Seeking the Healer and you can find out more about both at  www.lyndaalsford.com.