One Small Bit of Encouragement Goes a Long Way

I have been thinking a lot about helping others lately. Not in the big dramatic way where we decide to fix the world before breakfast. More like the everyday moments where we simply show up for someone because we know what it feels like to need that.

Writers understand this more than most. We live in our heads, trying to shape stories and characters and whole worlds out of thin air. Some days the words line up perfectly. Other days the words look at us and say, “Absolutely not.” And yet we keep going, because the story keeps tapping us on the shoulder.

When I first started writing, I remember looking around and thinking everyone else knew exactly what they were doing. They seemed confident. Meanwhile, I was just hoping my book made sense to someone outside my own brain. I did a lot of polite nodding, as if I understood everything about publishing, and then Googled it later like my life depended on it.

What helped me was not a lightning bolt moment of clarity. It was a person. Someone who said, “You’re doing okay. Keep going.” That encouragement shifted something in me. It felt like someone turned on a little porch light in a dark yard. Not blinding. Just enough to say, “You are not wandering alone.”

So now I try to do that for others. Not because I think I have it all figured out. I absolutely do not. I still question myself. I still rewrite sentences twelve times. I still get overwhelmed and then remember to breathe. But I do know what it feels like to be supported. And I want other writers to feel that too.

Helping another writer does not require anything fancy. Sometimes it is reading what they wrote and saying, “Yes. This part right here. That is good.” Sometimes it is listening while they think out loud. Sometimes it is just saying, “I believe in you.”

We do not grow creatively by keeping our distance. We grow by walking beside one another.

So if you are working on something, this is your reminder to keep going. Your story matters. Even if it is still forming. Especially then. And if you know someone else who is writing, creating, dreaming, or building something from scratch, encourage them. Let them know you see them trying.

One small bit of encouragement goes a long way.