Can we Edit a Blank Page?

We cannot edit a blank page, and a draft or sketch is necessary to make bigger progress

The art of starting from scratch to finally having something presentable is something that’s developed with time. For writers, one can spend a whole day, a week or even a year, staring at a blank page, with nothing to put down. Meanwhile for students who have assignments to complete, it’s a completely different story as you cannot afford to stare at an empty page for a year. In all, if there is nothing on the page, there is NOTHING to start with; but once you write a few sentences or paragraphs, there is a beginning and above all, something to edit! Most of us will find it easier to move forward once we get an initial push. Likewise, all our dreams or goals need to be initiated and that’s when we shall be able to identify what works and what needs a few changes to get better! Some of us have ideas of probably how to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges but we are still stuck at the ‘blank page’. As long as that idea is still held in your head and not brought to the real world, it cannot be ‘edited’.

What takes place as one continuously stares at a blank page is also interesting, it’s actually the time when ideas are evaluated in our head and fake ones are eliminated, while the most promising ones quickly raise our heart beats. It is these that finally make it to the blank page and in their vagueness can be edited later. Even the best of artists starts with a sketch, until it’s developed into the beautiful pieces we all wish to decorate our houses with. The phone, PC, aeroplane, radio, and the likes of such inventions all started in the same way and no doubt they are still being edited to-date. To make it even more interesting, the people who are currently remodeling these inventions are not the original inventors…! Your vague draft could be an inspiration for an even far greater discovery than you could ever imagine. So, still thinking twice about letting it out of your head? I would rather you don’t.

The fears that hold us back are nothing but mere obstructions in our minds and can be overcome once we make the first big step. The fear of being laughed at, of being judged, and their close ‘cousins’ such as laziness, negativity and lack of confidence, can all be surmounted into something that changes our lives altogether. And later when the task is done, the last full stop made, and the pages have dried, can we sit back and acknowledge how potent we are. But alas, very few people live to see this day as their ideas never get to see the light of day; they are literally buried in thought. So, the next time you get an idea or a hunch; don’t just rub it off as impossible or stupid, but rather try to actualize it and see how far it takes you.