It took me 10 years to write my first (and only, so far) novel.

Please don't misunderstand. It did not take this long because it's a work of great literary genius. Not at all. Apart from the fact that I was raising two smallish children at the time, I was spending a lot of time doing my research – about settings and characters, but also about novel writing. I have a fairly sizeable collection of books about novel writing. 

The actual writing, however? I wasn't spending nearly enough time on that.

And it occurred to me this morning as I scrolled through Facebook Reels on DIY, gardening, sewing (I suspect I could be a homesteader, but without the conservatism) it occurred to me that the reason my DIY projects aren't getting done, my sewing projects are still just conceptual, and my gardening needs a lot of help – are that I'm watching all these other people do the things I want to do, instead of doing them myself.

I mean, be honest – how many projects or interesting bits of information have you screenshotted for future use that apply to the things you want to do. And how many of them have you ever looked at again?

It's spring time in Johannesburg, and so I've decided I'm going to springclean my brain a little by watching less, and doing more. Yes, there's value in watching another video on model railway building (another thing I'm about to start), but I do have to actually start.

Because a lot of this procrastination is just perfectionism – and let's face it, the chances of doing any of those things perfectly are pretty small. I'm going to make mistakes. And then I can look up how to fix them – it's part of the process!

So, here's my question for you – where are you simply being spectator of other people's lives instead of living your own? And what small action could you take to change that?

I'd love to hear about it.