Glad to have been of some small assistance! 😁 But seriously, it is hard to keep putting things out there, when you’re feeling shit. To a lesser extent, I’ve also found the road a bit bumpy, getting back into creating this year. I’ve had times of feeling overwhelmed, weighed down by the stories and sadness of the world, fatigued and just unwell. I’ve jotted some things down, but like you, I’ve been holding back on putting things out to the world that I don’t consider my “best work”. So far, I’ve only published three new poems this year – one per month. I see how prolific everyone else is, and sometimes feel like I’m being left behind – but still can’t find the urge to put words to paper. I wonder if I should play awhile with music and art, to take the pressure off and just enjoy creation – accept the fallow periods, and wait till it’s time to sow again. And still there’s that internal conflict – feeling like I should achieve more, wanting only to rest. And sometimes I wonder if burnout from my day job is finally catching up with me – 25 years of the rough and tumble of litigation, vicarious trauma, and battling work place politics… But then again, maybe I should use that old counselling trick of staying in what is present, exploring that, and see what comes from there… hmmm – maybe there’s a seedling poem in that?

And Erika – it sounds like creation is in your bones, that it pours out of you in other ways, even if the carefully crafted personal essays are hard to pull together at times. And of course it’s up to you, but if you feel moved to share the work you do for play – or therapy – maybe rather than thinking of “best work” (I’m saying this for myself as well) think of it as sharing pieces of your fragile, human heart. ❤️