Being Human

Every time I hear a scientist or academic talk about studying human beings, a small voice in me wonders, “Aren’t you a human? Why look any further than yourself to understand how we work?” This small voice of mine is a little snarky, admittedly, and is also aware that much can by learned by, say, asking a thousand people the same question about politics or child rearing or relationships. After all, we can believe all kinds of things – some interesting, some absolutely looney – and a study is one way to remind ourselves how varied or similar those beliefs can be.

For instance, whenever I teach Fearless Writing, I ask all the students, “What’s the hard part of writing?” Whenever I do so, one or two or more will invariably answer, “Finding the time.” This has never been the hard part for me, so at first, it was tempting to treat these writers as somehow fundamentally different than me, as if they were members of a small tribe dwelling on a remote mountain whose odd customs forbid them from setting aside an hour or two every day to write.

This was not a helpful point of view. The only way I can help or connect to or care about anyone is to see them as essentially the same as me. In fact, all the teaching I’ve done has been based exclusively on my own experiences. You could say I have studied myself extensively. I have assumed that when it comes the most important parts of life – love, fear, ambition, desire – what is true for me is true for everyone. So, I may never have had trouble finding time to write, but I have felt as if my efforts were a waste of time, or that my time was running out. It wasn’t hard to see how believing this could lead one to avoid writing, and blame this avoidance on a busy schedule.

If you’re a writer, you write about people in one form or another. No one on earth is more or less human than I am. In fact, nothing on earth, not the great blue whale or the tiny humming bird or ancient oak tree, is more alive than I. I don’t need more than myself to create anything or to know anything. You may have never have waited tables or run the high hurdles or gone sledding on Moses Brown Hill as I have, but those little details are not what make me human. I was human and I was alive, before and after any of that, and that’s all I need to remember to reach anyone.

Check out Fearless Writing with Bill Kenower on YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt
You can find William at: williamkenower.com