I’ve been lamenting that I don’t have time to write for, well, probably years now. In recent months I’ve made progress in discovering some of my roadblocks to finding writing time (like lacking a morning routine). I’ve been blocking out time on my calendar to write and have had some success with that but still haven’t felt like I have enough time to write.

Until a week ago, that is.

I removed the word “don’t” from my usual “I don’t have time to write.” Now I say and think “I have time to write!” Amazingly, I am finding that I DO have time to write.

The idea to remove “don’t” came to me in a recent Life.REVAMP class where I brought up my goal to detach myself from my phone at 10 p.m. each evening. I talked about how hard it is for me to give up my phone. Amy, our Life.REVAMP coach, mentioned that we often tell ourselves things that aren’t helpful – like it’s hard for me to set down my phone. She suggested changing the way I think about detaching from my phone in a positive way. Instead of saying it’s hard for me to turn my phone off I could say something like “It’s a relief to set down my phone.”

I discovered that by changing the way I thought about my phone, it was, indeed, easier to detach from it. Now that’s all well and good but how does this play into my new “I have time to write!” mantra?

Well, at church last Sunday I was talking to a friend of mine who is also a writer. We talked about how I would like to change the way I think about my lack of writing time and came up with this – I could simply remove the word “don’t” from my usual mantra and create a new positive one.

I Have Time to Write!

The first time I said that I felt wonderfully relieved. Unburdened. And almost immediately I started thinking about times in my schedule where I could fit in some writing time. Still, knowing it could be a challenge to change the message I’ve been telling myself for years, I made a little sign that says “I Have Time to Write!” and put it on my bulletin board of quotes and happy pictures in my office. Knowing I wouldn’t be in my office often enough to see the sign, I took a picture of it and made the picture the background image on both my laptop and my iPhone. Now every time I look at my phone, I see…

I Have Time to Write!

And, guess what? I’ve been finding all sorts of opportunities to write. I’ve been journaling. I’ve been blogging. I finished editing an essay that I started last winter and am about to send it off to a publication.

I have time to write – and it’s wonderful!