The Only Antidote

The blank page has no enemies. Everything there is welcome because any story imaginable can be told on it. Nothing can be destroyed there. People have tried, believing they were somehow exterminating someone else’s story with the one they are telling. It’s understandable. Everyone will hear or read a story at some point they wish had never been told. Oh, the world would be a better place without it. Look at the misery it’s causing. No one wants such unhappiness. Surely, erasing such a thing is all for the good.

Stories are permanent in their way. You can burn all the books you want, and yet they persist. You can cancel them on twitter or ban them from libraries and still they go on. They live forever in our minds whether we want them to or not. I have wrestled and argued with them there and they only grew stronger with every battle, like a virus that mutates around each new vaccine. The only true antidote is to tell a better story, one I’d want to hear again and again.

Doing so might feel as though you’re putting your head in the sand, ignoring what you think is wrong in the world. You are. You can only tell one story at a time. You have absolutely no choice but to ignore all the other ones, both those you’ve loved and those you’ve hated. They may have taught you much, but they cannot guide you through your story. This you must dream anew on that blank page, a surface without judgment, without preferences, and which understands as nothing else can the true meaning of equality.

All the stories that brought you sadness and grief and fear still exist, but if the one you’ve told is truly something you’d like to hear again and again, perhaps you will choose it more often. Do so regularly enough, and it will flourish in your mind, spreading as the garden grows. By and by, you may notice you can’t remember the last time you told those old tales. They aren’t gone, but they’re no longer a threat, for now they have no appeal, and a story that no one tells is as harmless as a seed not planted.

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