It took me three weeks to write my first ever article.

Along the way, I gave up multiple times. The reasons to stop were deafening. It’s not worth your time. People will judge your work. You have nothing to share.

The loudest one was: You can’t write.

I had never taken a writing class and had no writing style to draw upon. Ideas in my head constantly failed to materialise into words. Imagine trying to tell a story but having no voice. Utterly paralysing.

One day, I decided to try something new. I pretended that I knew how to write and invented a story for myself that I was a writer; that people were interested in what I had to say and would enjoy my prose. All completely unproven and probably not true.

But it worked. My first article was posted exactly two years ago: 02 March, 2019. It was a terrible piece of writing and is one of my least read posts, but it got this train started. And now, after 130 posts, I finally feel like I’m finding my voice.

You might feel like you’re not capable enough. Quite frankly, you might not be. But if you tell yourself a good enough story, you just might rise to the occasion. And if you do it long enough, the fiction might just become a reality.

In his commencement speech at the University of the Arts, Neil Gaiman gently urged:
So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.

Just pretend.