Hi Chay Tea,

Thanks for sharing your struggles with me. It’s sad to see so many people struggling by themselves. People don’t have much encouragement from anyone nowadays. I am constantly surprised at the reception that a lot of my writing gets, but I can also understand why.

I wrote this piece at a crossroad in my life. I was facing two roads — the road to laziness, destruction, and self-pity, or the road to responsibility and discipline. I voluntarily chose to take the path that I feared most — the path that was never taken. The unknown is intimidating and chaotic; you don’t know what you’re going to face, you can’t expect anything at all, and you constantly face problems and struggles that you’ve never faced before.

This road will test you and take you to your knees. This road will never allow you to feel comfortable or safe. You will constantly be on your toes, you will constantly question yourself, and you will constantly be tempted to turn back and go back to the safe road that most people choose.

You might ask me, “Well, if this road is so dangerous and chaotic, why do people choose this path in the first place?” Because while it is scary to walk around in the dark, it is filled with potential. There might be treasures beyond your imagination at the end of the road. You might get what you most desire by taking a leap of faith. You might come out of the other side as a new, improved, and confident person. You might find what you were looking for your whole life. Sure you can say you might not either, but you’ll never know if you never try, right?

People instinctively run away from the things they fear most. It’s helped us humans come this far. Our natural impulses helped us escape danger throughout history. But sometimes, we must run toward the fear and face it in order to move forward in life. Why do all humans look up to the hero figure? Because they are able to overcome what no one else can’t and run head straight at the monster. While everyone runs for their lives, the heroes stand strong and face the calamities of life and save humanity from destruction.

We can’t expect problems to just go away or have other people get rid of them for us. We can’t expect other people to face our fears and live our lives. We have to be the heroes who choose to fight. We must accept our mortality voluntarily — knowing that if we are all going to die inevitably in one way or another, we would rather go down choosing how we die and fighting to the bitter end.

The road not taken is filled with opportunities and experiences that you could never have imagined going through. It is filled with trials and tribulations that will test if you’re resilient and willing to face the true struggles of life.

I ask you — do you feel bad that you are not receiving claps or followers for your writing? You must continuously ask yourself what your motive is. Be honest with yourself. Is it because you love to write? Because you want to express and articulate your ideas? Because you want to help, inspire, and motivate others? Because you want to improve yourself? Because you want to create a story that only you can write?

What is your goal? Is it to gain followers? How many followers will be enough for you to feel satisfied? How many claps will it take until you can finally stop feeling discouraged? If your end goal is to amass as many followers as you possibly can, perhaps for monetary or social hierarchical gains, I would suggest that you take a step back and reevaluate why you write.

I hope this does not come off harshly, but this is what I had to realize in order to diminish my feelings of incompetence, impatience, anxiety, depression, and many other negative emotions. I had to realize that my goal for writing should never have been about gaining followers and feeling better about myself based on the quantity. I was obsessed with my stats and my follower count. I had to continue one-upping myself, even though I believed I was at my best with every piece of writing. In my desperate attempt for fame, I lost why I started writing in the first place.

I respect your vulnerability — I find that people who are able to be authentic and honest in their writing usually do well on this platform. I suggest that you write and publish like no ones watching. There are people who will judge you no matter what, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Why focus on them? Why not focus on improving on your craft, and become so good that no one will be able to ignore you in the future? Why should an opinion of a random person on the Internet hinder your dreams?

Focus on the things you can control. Practical tips:

• Read for 15 -30 minutes every day. This will give you inspiration and get the gears moving in your head. You can use something you read in a book or an article somewhere and give your own commentary on that little section. Sooner or later, you’ll have your own little piece of work. It also expands your horizons and trains your eye so that you know what skillful prose looks like.
• Write 500–1000 words every day. If you’re still intimidated about publishing, you can write in a journal and relieve yourself of the burden of having to show your work to everyone else. Write what you want to write about. Allow yourself to tell the story that is within you.
• Watch videos or movies or whatever that interests you — they will all come in handy. You’d be surprised!
• I find that exercising really helps me get my blood pumping and it motivates me to do other things. You don’t have to go to the gym — you just have to make it as easy as possible for yourself to start.

Sorry that this became an essay LOL… but I wanted to help you because I remember when I was in your position, and I remember how hopeless I felt when I felt like I had no direction or goal to aim toward. (Not that I have my life together right now, but I have a good feeling about it so far!)

Please feel free to ask me any further questions! Either here or my e-mail, which you can find on my page :)

Thanks again for reading Chay Tea! I wish you the best of luck and that you will be brave enough to face your fears.