What is it that makes you happy? 

It could be something very simple, like eating breakfast from your favorite plate. Or counting steps on your way to work. Or listening to the same song over and over again, despite everyone rolling their eyes at you and telling you, “Aren’t you sick of it?”

Writing, in many ways, is that one thing that makes you happy. 

It’s why you do it, isn’t it? Then how can you be happy writing AND continue experiencing happiness while writing, if you won’t let yourself be happy in other areas of your life?

See how this is connected?

The more you practice letting yourself be happy (and I mean, stopping to do something that makes you uncomfortable, cutting out of your life people who make you uncomfortable—in other words, stopping to force yourself to do things you hate), the easier your writing time will be.

I know, because it’s happening to me now. Writing is no longer a struggle. It’s pure happiness, and it’s the best job I could ever have. It doesn’t feel like a job—though ironically, it really is like a job now, where I no longer freak out about anything, I simply wake up every morning and just do it.

Illustration by Viet Huynh