"Today, I Wrote Anyway."

 "Today, I Wrote Anyway."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

It is funny how writing also requires a certain amount of momentum.

When you finally get the time to sit down, gather your thoughts, put them into words, and then edit everything into something worth publishing, it can feel like you have finally gotten the machine running.

But life has a funny way of getting in the way.

Ironically, while actually living life gives us plenty of material to write about, it can also disrupt the momentum needed to write about it.

That is why some writers develop a kind of muscle for it. They write and keep writing—day after day, week after week, year after year—until writing becomes less about inspiration and more about habit.

I used to think I had developed that muscle.

Until recently.

I have been procrastinating again.

A terrible sin when it comes to writing.

I had been trying to write at the beginning of my shifts, partly because I wanted to exercise my brain before I started seeing patients. It was a small routine that helped me feel like I had already accomplished something creative before the day got busy.

But lately, I have been tired.

And the patients have been arriving earlier.

And there have been a lot more of them.

It is the Ber Months, after all, and flu season has taken hold in certain offices. My quiet time before seeing patients has slowly disappeared.

And so, here I am, back to writing.

Not because I am particularly inspired.

Not because I suddenly have some brilliant idea that absolutely needs to be written.

I am writing this simply to prove to myself that I can still write when I don't feel like writing.

That perhaps the muscle is still there.

Maybe it just needed to be exercised again.

So this is today's exercise.

No grand revelation. No profound story.

Just words on a page.

And, apparently, that is enough.

So much writing for one day.

Today, I wrote anyway.