While reading Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge’s “Poemcrazy” today (which I highly recommend for anyone interested in writing poetry, by the way), I came across a sentence that made me pause:

There are no rules and there’s no audience.

What a beautiful reminder! Not only is it relevant to writing poetry, but it can be applied to so many other aspects of life, big and small.* How we choose to live our days, how we act in a given moment. Whether we buy that house, if we pee in the shower.

Basically, eyes on your own page. Breathe. There’s no “right way.” Your every thought and actions aren’t projected on a stage. You do you.

After my pause, I grabbed a nearby notecard and copied down the sentence—adding an exclamation mark of my own—so I may see the freeing thought throughout the day.

I’m taking a breath here and now for the open feeling of freedom that these words give me.

If it resonates, go ahead and apply this idea wherever you may need it today.

Did it loosen anything up? Provide some ease/opening? Give you a new way to look at a situation? The space below is yours to share whatever you’d like with us.

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*I’m viewing this sentence in the context of freeing oneself from societal norms. I recognize the privilege of being able to use this in so many senses of my life, and that not all people have the same freedoms and privileges.