What if? This is a fantastic question, don't you think so? Sadly, it kills more ideas than it helps to bring them to life. This question, 'what if' usually raises doubts about everything you consider doing, every plan you have in mind for your future is questioned in a negative light and oftentimes terminated before they have had a chance to be put to test.
What if I write a post today and no one reads it? If I had to ask myself that question today and worry about it, you wouldn't be reading this. I am sure you know how worry and anxiety can take over your imagination and lead you into the scariest battlefield and force you to fight imaginary monsters.
I always counter a what if negative question with a what if not positive question. I would take the what if I write and no one reads question and change it into - what if I write today and it goes viral, it gets recognition, it touches someone's heart, it blows someone's hat off?
What if I die today without expressing myself adequately, will my loved ones ever know how much I loved them or how much they were on my mind and how much they meant to me. Would they even know how much I prayed for them and wished them well and tried in my own small way to make their life beautiful? While all that may not matter to me after I am dead, but it would certainly matter to those that loved me.
So what if I did write about my love for them today and make their tomorrows worthwhile. When I write about how much I love them on this blockchain, they could read it whenever they want. Sometimes what I tell them maybe forgotten or may get muddled up in their memory, but when I post it here it remains here for posterity. They may even hear my voice as they read it, as if I was speaking to them in a personal, intimate sort of way.
Let's forget the others for a moment. What if I write just for myself, to give expression to my thoughts, about what moves me, what impacts my life or what keeps me going day after day? What if all my thinking and writing helps bring clarity and direction to my thought processes and helps me become a better writer. As I keep writing, I would learn to express myself better, improve my writing voice, my diction, my style and perhaps earn some cryptos too in the process.
More than everything I would be putting my time to good use and enjoying myself in the process. Sharpening my mind is very important to me as I am not growing any younger. My mind is my tool I depend on for my work day after day. Even if I didn't write something astounding, I would have at least sharpened my mind today. What if the things I write day after day are the stepping stones to the book I dream of writing someday.
What if someone was helped by my writing? It is possible that some one learned something today from my experience. What if someone who was struggling with doubts about their writing and came across this post? Would it be fine not to help someone?
I remember a few weeks ago I wrote a post about my garden and specifically about growing turmeric. I have tried growing turmeric innumerable times by burying the tuber in the soil only to find it rotting and not growing or producing anything. I figured out that just leaving the turmeric tubers in a brown bag until it puts out shoots and it is ready to be sowed gives me 100% results. It may not be news to you, but the admin of the group said he never knew how to grow turmeric and it helped him.
Let's assume that we may not even help anyone with our work but by writing and engaging with a few others on the blockchain every day we bring some positives vibes to it. The whole point of me writing this post is to make it clear that everything that your mind tells you isn't true. It is the minds way of protecting you from what it 'perceives' as an insurmountable difficulty which may make your life all the more difficult.
Everything need not always be about us. There is this wider horizon around us which we need to consider. If it was always about us we would be sad and lonely people. So the next time doubt raises its head and says, 'what if' to you turn around and ask 'what if not' and you will see yourself disengaging from these mind games.
The images used in this post were photographed by me and are the sole property of @sofs-su .