How Inside Out 2 Helped Me to Write
Every emotion matters. Every emotion can help. I use them to push myself, stay motivated, maintain balance in my workload, and avoid overwhelming my brain or frequent burnouts.
Here’s how Inside Out can teach you to understand and use each emotion, and how it can help your freelance writing business:
1. En(JOY) What You Write
Whatever niche you pick or topic you write about, you have to enjoy what you’re doing.
When you love what you write, you avoid ennui (boredom), which helps prevent writer’s block from attacking your brain and gives you more creative ideas.
The inspiration for this post came from the joy I had watching Inside Out(side note: I’m a huge Disney fan!). Make sure you love what you do, or the process is going to be harder for you.
2. Don’t Let (SADNESS) Overwhelm You
It’s okay to have bad days. Feeling sad can make us feel better by getting everything out of our system and clearing our minds — but don’t spend too much time feeling sad.
Dwelling on the what-ifs and (envy)ing writers on Instagram living your dream life will only keep you in a rut. Know the difference between being sad and being negative.
Give yourself a minute to let it all out, then pull yourself together and get back to work with a better mindset.
3. Controlling Your (ANGER)
Staring at a blank screen is the main cause of anger for all writers. Feeling (disgust) at your writing, getting frustrated, and being angry at yourself isn’t going to make the words come any easier.
If you must feel anger, be angry that you chose to get on TikTok instead of writing that blog post you should’ve done.
Be angry that you waited too long to reach out to that client you were hoping to work with. Use that anger to fire you up and motivate yourself to try harder and stay focused — but keep control of your anger and never let it control you.
Too much anger can take your head out of the game.
4. (FEAR & ANXIETY) Can! Help You
Believe it or not, a little dose of fear and anxiety can make us better.
The problem with most people is that they fear their own emotions, so they try to shut off the ones they deem to be bad.
Inside Out has shown us that if we learn how to manage our anxiety, it can keep us accountable. As writers, we need a little anxiety to keep us from straying. Being fearful of the right things is what’s going to keep us on our laptops.
5. (EMBARRASSMENT) Can Stop You From Taking Action
Embarrassment stops you from stepping out of your comfort zone. Imposter syndrome can convince us that everyone knows we’re frauds, so we keep quiet, scared of embarrassing ourselves.
But remember: everyone gets embarrassed, and 99% of the time, it’s never as big a deal as we think it is. Forget about it and move on.
Never stay in your safe place for too long. The best things in life are scary. The unknown is scary — it can make us feel unprepared for the future — but that’s life. That’s how we grow.
If we don’t take risks, we don’t mess up. And if we don’t mess up, we don’t learn.
Conclusion
Your emotions can make or break you if you don’t know how to use them to benefit you. Being positive is important, but never stop yourself from feeling what you need to feel in the moment.
Allow it to come, then let it pass, and get back to business.
Be kind to yourself, and remember: both the good and bad emotions can help you grow, both as a person and as a writer.