{"id":20355,"date":"2022-12-01T22:29:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T22:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/01\/the-voice-in-my-head-wouldnt-let-me-write\/"},"modified":"2022-12-01T22:29:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T22:29:09","slug":"the-voice-in-my-head-wouldnt-let-me-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/01\/the-voice-in-my-head-wouldnt-let-me-write\/","title":{"rendered":"The voice in my head wouldn’t let me write"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I was writing about diversity from a gender perspective when I had an attack of writer\u2019s block. I wanted to write about neurodiversity in the work place. But as I was researching on the topic I realised how little I knew and how vast the subject was. I started with a certificate course on understanding ADHD, a subject very close to our family.<\/p>\n

Then my friend and marketing community member, Advit Sahdev mentioned something called Internal Family Systems as a way of understanding our coping mechanisms and maladaptive behaviours.\u00a0That was fascinating! I\u2019m now signed up for a course on that too.\u00a0I had to find time to feed my new interest and the newsletter was a casualty.\u00a0I\u2019d say I went down a rabbit hole but since it was so engaging and useful that\u2019s not a good description.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Should I eat that cake?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s say I open the fridge to take out a fruit. The green Christmas cake from last weekend\u2019s party shouts at me to eat it instead. There is a voice in my head that says that it would be a very bad choice. Another one suggests that I deserve it because I\u2019m going to write the newsletter today. It would be great if another voice piped up that maybe I eat the cake AFTER I\u2019ve worked out later in the day. Sometimes there\u2019s a voice that suggests that I should just leave the house and run to office where I won\u2019t see the cake. Each of these \u201cvoices\u201d is trying to support me and keep me happy, but some are better choices than others. The drivers could be to prevent anxiety, prevent boredom, getting the newsletter written.They\u2019re different coping mechanisms. An extreme situation could be one where one voice suggests that the cake would make me feel happy while I ate it and another voice suggests that I should puke it out immediately to protect my health. If I do both, it would become a problem soon enough.<\/p>\n

Writer\u2019s block is a mental block:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Back to the newsletter. A writer\u2019s block is my brain telling me that I have nothing worthwhile to write about. And that I should just stay in the rabbit hole which is way more exciting. Listen to it often enough and soon the newsletter won\u2019t exist. Because a 12 year old habit would be broken. One that actually gives me a lot of joy and helps me learn. Luckily I\u2019m able to take control of myself and plunge back into the newsletter.<\/p>\n

The many voices in our head:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I was chatting about this with a friend from the marketing fraternity, Advit Sahdev, and we realised that great salespeople intuitively address the many voices competing in our head.<\/p>\n