Beth's Ponderings
What’s your
personal “style?” Do you know, or are you still searching for it?
While this seems to
be a concern in a number of different areas of our lives, it tends to be most
prevalent in the creative/artistic field where writers, singers, musicians,
artists, and other creative people are encourage, after they have mastered the
basic techniques, to go “find their own style.”
I once heard a
speaker talking about developing your personal style, and after he explained
how style shows up in different parts of your life, he then pointed out that it
is impossible NOT to express your own style because no matter what you do, you
are ALWAYS doing it in your own unique way, from your own unique perspective.
Even if you are
imitating the way someone else dresses or talks, or writes or paints, you aren’t
an exact copy of that person because, you aren’t that person. You are you, and that comes out in all that
you do, whether you are consciously aware of that or not.
Now, that doesn’t
mean you can’t learn from other people and incorporate their tips and tricks
into your own repertoire, it just means that you can’t get hung up on doing
things exactly the way someone else did, or get hung up on trying to discover
your way of doing things, because you will end up doing it in the best manner
for you, no matter what you do.
For years, I
struggled to find my writing “voice” - one that fit into the “list” that I was
once given in a writing class. Yet, no
matter how hard I tried, and how much I practiced my writing, I could not get
my writing style to fit into a pre-established neat little box. Then I was given one of the all-time best
compliments I ever received about my writing, when I was told that when the
person read what I wrote, they could “hear” my voice speaking the words because
they were written the way I express myself verbally, giving my writing the feel
of a conversation.
Instead of spending
time and energy trying to figure out your “style,” all you need to do is do
what you do, the way that you do it, and people will easily see and experience
your style.
Beth
Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua26/home/July%205%2C%202019%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
