{"id":19100,"date":"2013-12-05T19:13:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T00:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=19100"},"modified":"2013-12-05T19:13:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T00:13:00","slug":"overcoming-writers-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2013\/12\/05\/overcoming-writers-block\/","title":{"rendered":"On Perfectionism, Writer’s Block, and Overcoming Both"},"content":{"rendered":"Hands down, my least favourite question during a job interview is being asked the quintessential \u201cWhat is your biggest weakness?<\/strong>\u201d question. Firstly, where do I even begin?! Secondly, how do I trick my potential bosses into thinking any flaw of mine is actually going to be an asset to their business? (Fun fact: I once answered with \u201cstrong, dark-haired men\u201d. In return I received astonished laughter, and a job offer. #TryItUofT<\/a>?)\r\n\r\nI read somewhere once that the best\u00a0and<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0worst response in an interview would be to say, \u201cMy biggest flaw is that I\u2019m a perfectionist<\/strong>.\u201d I figure this works both ways because \u2013 congratulations: you have solved the quandary I discussed above and successfully fooled those suckers into hiring you \u2013 but you\u2019ve done it at the cost of sounding like the most irritating human being on the planet. And at the risk of coming in a close second to that title, I\u2019m going to take the leap and say\u00a0I can relate to that<\/i>.\r\n\r\n
\"Trying<\/a>
Trying to sell yourself to somebody vs. not coming off as ~the worst~... it's the eternal struggle.<\/em> (PC: headlikeanorange.tumblr.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

I really, really<\/em> enjoy writing as a pastime. One of my most prized possessions to date is a purple plush-bound diary I received for my fifth birthday. I\u2019ve blogged since the days of Xanga<\/a>. I actually kind of enjoyed proofreading my friends\u2019 essays in high school (albeit partially due to my grammar nazi<\/a> tendencies). I tend to do better on essays and written assignments than I do on tests that solely feature multiple choice questions. I think I\u2019ve even started several novels throughout my lifetime<\/strong> (I know, it\u2019s taking all<\/em> of my energy not to roll my eyes at myself right now).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Yeah...<\/a>
Yeah... I was (and still am)\u00a0that<\/strong> girl.<\/em> (PC: via Tumblr\/survivingcollege.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

But it\u2019s been almost 15 years since I received that diary and I never managed to fill out all of its pages. I\u2019ve started so many blogs with the intent of keeping a constant record that I can\u2019t remember all the screen names I own. I\u2019ve spent time rewriting sentences for other people\u2019s papers without starting my own. I don't think I've ever finished an essay earlier than the night before or morning of its due date. And there\u2019s a reason I\u2019m here as a student at U of T and not <\/span>richer than the Queen of England<\/a>, \u00e0 la J.K. Rowling. To what do I owe this misfortune? My prognosis: a terrible case of writer\u2019s block, brought on by the onset of perfectionism<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Writing for Life at U of T has not so much been a job for me as it is has been an outlet to create something I hope others will enjoy from doing something that I love. Recently, however, I\u2019m finding it harder and harder to produce writing that I'm happy with. (Another fun fact: I had writer\u2019s block while writing this post about writer\u2019s block<\/em>. Super meta and ironic.) The constant anxiety of not being able to perfectly transfer my thoughts from mind to keyboard has gotten me literally nowhere, except in slowing down my progress.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Credit:<\/a>
Essentially what perfectionism does to you. <\/em>(PC: Screencap from The Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

This was not so much a piece on health and wellness as it is a reflection of an experience that I\u2019m sure most of you will be able empathize with in your time at U of T (and probably one that\u2019s occurred more than once). It also isn\u2019t necessarily limited to an experience within the scope of writing. It\u2019s scary thinking about constantly having to reach a certain standard you\u2019ve set for yourself once you start producing work that you\u2019re actually happy with, or when you start believing that everything you\u2019re doing isn\u2019t living up to your potential. This is probably especially prevalent to most of us when it comes to finals season. Upon the arrival of finals season, it boils down to two emotions - (1) feeling like you have to outperform yourself on the exam because you didn't do as well as you had hoped throughout the semester, or (2) worrying about your exam performance pulling down your grade and having a semester's worth of hard work thrown away in vain. Take this common piece of advice given by psychotherapists to patients with anxiety-related disorders:\u00a0Stop worrying about not being able to do your best, and just get out there and do your best.\u00a0<\/strong>You'll only be doing yourself a favour.<\/p>\r\n

So on that note, come brilliant, inspiring, prose or not - until next week, U of T.<\/p>\r\n

Kat<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n
\nHands down, my least favourite question during a job interview is being asked the quintessential \u201cWhat is your biggest weakness?\u201d question. Firstly, where do I even begin?! Secondly, how do I trick my potential bosses into thinking any flaw of…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “On Perfectionism, Writer’s Block, and Overcoming Both”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “On Perfectionism, Writer’s Block, and Overcoming Both”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7204,62,1,58,67,68],"tags":[193,767,1950,12342,1127,12340,1424,12343,25506,12341,52,54],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19100"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19215,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19100\/revisions\/19215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}