There are many ways to trip yourself up, but unrelenting self criticism is one of the most harmful and damaging elements you can expose yourself to as a writer and human being; terms sometimes considered mutually exclusive by those who know and love them.

Over the years I have developed a powerfully innate and over developed sense of how to best remove every shred of my defenses before throwing myself into the full blazing glory of self flagellation.

How can I be so certain? Because I did so quite effectively only a few moments ago.

Reflecting on my 60 day old quest to blog daily from the sancticty of my favorite writing spot, I counted all 21 posts I’ve made and suddenly berated myself for missing nearly twice as many days as I’d written. My creative self savagely unleashed the full emotional equivalent of 30 Grays worth of impending doom upon my psyche.

To be fair, I am averaging two posts a week, so that’s a start. I’m just not where I wanted to be. Then again, how many of us are ever where we want to be? How many times have we aspired to be better? Yet, once we achieve a goal, we seek out another to attain and once reached, the cycle continues ad infinitum.

And we wonder why people aren’t happy?

For me, acceptance is key to moving forward. I actively choose to be content with who I am each day. I may not be a daily writer, but I am a writer nonetheless. Maybe someday I will be. Or maybe I won’t.

As long as I get to write, I’ll be OK either way.

— The Impostor