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I have never imagined writing such thing. But here I am! I jottled down my thoughts that I haven't even spoken of for some time, now. The things that bothered me was simple as it seems: I lost my passion for writing! oh no shitsherlock!

As we all know every career that we take comes from our passion, our desire to act on and do so. It was what encourages us to behave in a specific manner. It becomes our passion for we take interest in it. And like every aspiring artist there is, I am NOT an exception to feel like I would not face difficulties on my way as a writer.

Mind block/Blank space/Writer's block, or whatever you call it. I have it. And what's worst I found myself struggling to find my motivation to continue doing it. Being a writer means finding your inspiration everywhere at anytime. Whatever bring you your next subject for a poem, an essay or for your story you are working with, it is very much important to put it on a note since you don't know when will the next idea came out of your head. Moreover, being a writer everyone expect you to create beautiful, positive and inspiring art to which I oppose, by the way.The art that a writer make and let the world to see came from their most deepest, painful and heartbreaking experiences. I have to know, all of my poems that I created before were based on my experiences. It is not necessary for your art to be 'Beautiful', for it is ought to feel every emotion there is. We write because that's what our hearts wants us to write, because it is something that made it happy, excited, euphoric and it also makes our heart feel the opposite and in the dumps.

But what can a writer do when external factors are present, yet creativity died together with the passion that he/she once had? The access to thousands of inspiration is infront, yet the writer seem to be preoccupied with stress & doubt. So, here I am, sharing you how I dealt over as I was finding my passion for writing. You have to stick until the end, it is the only way you and I can solve this mystery that is happening with my career for being an artist.

But before that, it has been exactly 46 days, 10hours, 20minutes and 16 seconds that my family and I are stuck at home due to the corona virus pandemic issue. For some, they have already take this as their "summer break", but for me, I only take this time as something that had taken my passion and sanity away. It was very difficult to even say I am not that creative writer I once was. It is unusual that I cannot find my inspiration to continue and just suddenly I feel uncomfortable holding my favorite pen and notebook. It feels so awkward to write and to be stuck at this phase of my life. It feel horrible to the point I even doubt my capabilities towards other field I excel at and I started hating: writing.

So, I did what I have to do. And came up with the five (5) steps that helped me survive being in the dumps of my writing career.

1) DECLUTTER - verb. to remove unnecessary items from overcrowded place.

AND I STARTED by decluttering. I was a mess. The emotions I was feeling is taking over every fiber in my body, so I have to declutter my space, to let go of the unnecessary and organize my things I want to take control at. And after that, I felt much better. I was relieved to see what I've accomplished and also by decluttering I came across every works I 've done before. It was nostalgic to read every poem, stories and essay I've done back then.

2) READ A BOOK - verb. look at and comprehend the meaning of (written or printed matter) by mentally interpreting the characters or symbols of which it is composed.

Reading helps. Not just to keep you busy, but to also help you find inspiration in the masterpiece of another. It is not an entirely bad thing to compare your works with another perspective, it helps you see the flaws you make in your art piece, it helps you to upgrade your game of writing- you will see what style you should use to write next time, the perspective you will be doing, and the word you will use at your next subject. Reading can help you discover those things, and it can help you find your true identity as a writer. Well, atleast for me.

3) TAKE A BREAK - verb. to have a short rest period in one's work or studies, other activities.

It is simply to stop whatever you are doing and don't bother to look at it for quite sometime. It may take a day or two or a week or even a month. It is a very important step for writers, when we are doing lots of projects, we pressured ourselves to finish it immediately, and although it is not bad to challenge yourself, it is bad to deprived yourself from rest. and sometime, when we over challenge ourselves, we sometimes lost our objectives in writing the project. We pressure ourselves to the point creativity juices stops coming our way. Piece of advice, my artist.Take a deep breath away from that notebook you are holding and do things that you've never imagined doing.

4) REFLECT - verb. think deeply or carefully about.

Question yourself, list things and reflect. Why did I become a writer in the first place? Who or what are my inspirations? What holds me back in creating art? By this, you will discover yourself and you can get to hold your weaknesses in your palm and no one could ever use it against you. On top of that, I want you to hold this quotation that personally helped me to get to know myself better, it is a quotation by Elon Musk "Constantly think about How you could be doing things better and question yourself."

5) WRITE - verb. to create and record something, such as a book, poem, song on a piece of paper.

It took me atleast a month of break before I went to work on my poems and short stories, again. I realized that I missed how writing feels and how promising it feels when you have finished it. At the beginning, I was having a hard time filling up my notebook. I started by making phrases, and get to compile everything and put it in a draft. Then, I made outlines to what I wanted to write about. Usually, a sentence per day, then, by times goes by, I found myself writing paragraphs until I drafted a whole piece.

Well, there you have it. My five steps to get out of the dumps. In shorter note, I just wanted to tell you that it is normal to feel unmotivated towards what you like. But, no matter how tough it gets, always remember why you take interest in it in the first place, and why it is so important to you to have it back and before you have it, it's back, it's there. Our passion never left us, we just tend to over look at it. Hang in there, my great artist. I believe in you! So, trust the process, enjoy the struggle and get back like nothing happened.

Here for you,
Elle Factoran