Day Five... and I Was Already Trying Too Hard

One thing has become more and more obvious to me lately: the minute I put pressure on myself, I start overthinking.

And when I overthink, I stumble because everything suddenly feels so damn hard.

Recently, I started a six-week challenge focused on producing talking-to-camera videos to share on social media.

I had been feeling lost in my own content and, honestly, a little disconnected from my voice. So I actually took some time away from social media while I focused on something else for a few months.

During that time, I decided I wanted to finally start a blog. I began writing with the hope that I could tune back into my own voice and maybe even use my blogs as inspiration for my social media content.

Ironically, writing brought my voice back.

Then along came the YAP Challenge, and something clicked.

It felt like the right thing to do because I knew talking-to-camera videos were much more my jam than the B-roll content I'd been primarily focused on creating.

So in the lead-up to the challenge starting, I felt excited, hopeful and genuinely inspired to show up on social media differently.

The first three days

The first three days were all about laying the foundation.

Then day four arrived, and it was time to start posting.

The biggest message from the creator of the challenge was to have fun and not overthink it, which, funnily enough, was one of the main reasons I joined in the first place. Overthinking my content has always been one of my biggest challenges.

When day four rolled around, ideas and inspiration were flowing.

Day five... and the stall

But as day five hit...

I stalled.

And I stalled hard.

I got completely up in my head and fell into a full mental spiral.

I tried coming up with ideas.

I tried forcing myself to prepare something.

But nothing felt right.

So I left it.

I let go of the pressure and moved on with my day.

The following morning, I was at work on my mid-morning walk when, all of a sudden, inspiration hit me.

Not only did the idea feel right, but it flooded out of me.

It even sparked the blog you're reading right now.

By the end of the day, I was buzzing again.

What I realised

As I reflected on it all, I realised I hadn't run out of ideas or even lost my voice again.

I'd just started trying to create the right content instead of the content that feels good to me and genuinely excites me.

And the moment I let go of needing to get it right... inspiration found me.

It's crazy how quickly I slipped back into old patterns.

Five days.

That's all it took.

But thankfully, I noticed it quickly.

I didn't get stuck.

I didn't force it.

I just let it go.

Then when I was out walking... BAM, it hit me.

And that's it... inspiration doesn't disappear.

It gets drowned out the moment you start putting conditions on it — it has to be, because you disconnect from yourself in that moment.