You Have Tremendous Power

This afternoon, I walked into a column. I was passing by it, but I didn't notice the decorative trim jutting out several inches, so my upper arm collided with it. It really hurt. Like, I was surprised at how much pin I was in. In fact, I am still sore from it.

I was walking at a normal rate. I wasn't whipping my arms around. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. The fact that I produced enough energy to hurt myself so significantly and so casually is boggling.

Boggling though it may be, it is also true. The human body generates a tremendous amount of energy without even thinking about it. Consider how much you weigh. You move that much weight effortlessly. Add another 20 pounds on a backpack and you can feel it, but still walk around without issue for some time. The energy used to propel your body (and anything attached to it) in a continuous, fluid motion through space is pretty significant, so when it meets a solid object, all that energy gets sent back into your body at the point of contact. Seems no surprise that it hurt.

You have an equally tremendous power linguistically. You know how to talk. You can communicate. You may not know what a gerund is, but you know how to use them just fine. You may not be able to define comedy, but you have said things that made people laugh.

Practicing writing does not teach new abilities so much as it does enhance and refine what you've already done (much as physical exercise trains the body to do more than usual). Studying writing codifies and names techniques and skills. When you learn what a simile is, you have not learned a new skill; you have simply given a name to a skill you already possessed. It may feel like a new skill since it now has a specific designation, but you've been making similes way before that.

The best way to make use of your inherent power is to not pay attention to it. I generated great force by walking without paying attention. I have written excellent things by simply trying to explain a belief to a person (or to myself). Do the same. When you finish writing, stuff it in a box and don't look at it for a month. On June 22, open it up and see how you feel about it.