When You Have Nothing to Write About

By Sarah McDonald

I am going to be really honest here. Sometimes, there is nothing to write about. Sometimes life is hard, really hard – exhausting. Sometimes family life, work life and even faith life are all overwhelming, and it’s hard to find words. 

Sometimes, in the midst of your mind being so full you don’t think you can take one more thing, you can’t process enough to write a sentence on the paper.

A Facebook “friend” posted that a good word to describe how many of us are feeling lately is “depleted.” I think it’s a perfect word for these times. 

Lately, it’s felt like I have nothing to write about. Some days, it feels like I have fought and pushed so hard that my words don’t even matter. Sometimes they don’t matter to me, so why would someone else want to read them? 

But my words do matter. My words and my actions matter to my husband and my children. They matter to my friends and colleagues. Most importantly, my words and my actions matter to God, our loving Father who wants to hear from me even, perhaps even especially, when I am feeling at my worst. 

So, when I feel like I can’t find the words or the sentences are jumbled in my head, it’s important for me to turn to God in prayer. It’s important for my soul, and it’s important for my family to see that in the struggles God is our refuge. 

Maybe this is why Eucharistic Adoration chapels have become more popular – it’s a place we can go to be in the presence of the Lord even when we don’t know what to say. For me, it’s like comparing my toddler climbing on my lap and sitting cuddled quietly or my big boys waking and walking by without a word to hug me in the morning. 

It’s knowing that even when we don’t have the words or don’t think they matter – God is there to be our safe space.