I want to write. But wanting to write and actually writing are two entirely different things.

Wanting to X and doing X are always different. In reality, wanting something is incredibly easy. Making that thing a reality is oftentimes incredibly difficult.

There are a myriad of reasons why I don't write every day. I run out of time. I can't think of anything to write about. I have to do other things first and then get tired. I get lazy sometimes. Fill in the blank with whatever reason. It doesn't matter, because every excuse comes down to a single thing: priorities.

We always make time to do the things we truly want to do. That's how life works. Oh we may fuss and complain about not having enough time to get things done, but truth be told, we invariably get done the things that are most important to us. If we want something bad enough, we make time to do it. Period. If we fail to carve out time to accomplish something, then we are either incredible wasters of time (which is a horrible problem in itself) or we are deceiving ourselves about how important the thing really is.

I confess, this is a reductionist answer to what most of us make out to be a complicated problem--lack of time. But I am convinced both the problem and solution are quite simple. Part of the problem is that we have allowed ourselves to believe that all the things our culture deems "necessary"--be it Facebook, politics, Instagram, television, or the news--are really necessary. Truth be told, many of them are not that important, let alone necessary.

It is not necessary to work 60 hours per week to be successful. It is not necessary for our children to be involved in two dozen extracurricular activities to be well-rounded. It is not necessary to make our homes look like Pinterest boards. It is not necessary to get caught up in the current 'big thing' that everyone is raving about on social media.

Stop.

Let go.

Reprioritize.

Take control of your time. It is yours, after all, and you have a finite measure of it.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash