What to do when the Inspiration won’t Come and the Excitement is Gone

“Sing Muse . . . ” (Cue crickets). “Muse . . ? Where are you?!”

It’s not exactly a writers block that I’ve hit. I have plenty of interesting things to write about. It’s more so that I’ve hit a muse-block. The last month (or two?) I just haven’t been struck with a great topic to write on. And that leaves me struggling to make myself sit down and write about something of old. But, because you, my faithful readers, deserve more, I have made myself sit down and write, despite not feeling the muse’s inspiration.

Why does it have to be so much easier to do things when we are excited and why can’t the excitement last forever?

One word: Virtue.

If life were easy how would we grow in virtue?

Fortitude, defined as a willingness to endure the arduous, would never be something to work at and grow in if things never became arduous.

Courage, going forward even if you feel you have nothing “inspired” to write, means putting your vulnerable little thoughts out there, even when you feel they aren’t anything great.

Perseverance: Keep on swimming. Continue the good thing you started.

Now, I’m not saying I’ve mastered these, or any other, virtues. Hence this is the first post since . . . yeah. What I am saying is that I recognize a need to grow in these virtues and that this blog is presenting an opportunity for what I need.

Life tends to do this. Continually present things, big and small, in our lives that ask us to grow. We can so easily dismiss and miss those small opportunities though if we aren’t looking to become more virtuous. We can become comfortable in our lives and not realize there are small areas where we can push ourselves.

We don’t need to go out there and make difficulties for ourselves. But neither should we sit back, enjoy our comfy life, and just wait for the difficult moments. Whatever stage of life we are in, we can find something, somewhere, that is asking more of us and challenging us to greatness.

I am guilty of getting comfortable in my life and just waiting for something difficult. But I’ve realized that my “life challenge” might not be facing the big difficulties, but rather the small, everyday ones. The ones that ask me to persevere in the everyday and reflect on where I can grow. The big ones can be easy to face, because they are obvious and if you don’t face them you clearly feel the repercussions.

It’s the small ones, the ones that you can ignore, the ones that you don’t need to face, that are really going to make us more virtuous. If you can act virtuously in the small, everyday little things, you can do so in the big things.

“Do Small Things with Great Love.”

~St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

St. Mother Teresa was a wise woman. There will be big challenges in our lives, but let’s not sit back and wait for those while missing all the little things which call us to act with great love and greater virtue.