Canvas

I wish I had studied writing a little more when I had the chance. It's interesting that I phrase it that way, because in all likelihood, I have the chance, it's just a matter of digging into the depths of what exactly that entails.

There's a lot of potential energy in this world, in a metaphorical sense. I am not nearly the writer I could be, and I believe that the same holds true for anyone else. Are we ever fully what we are?

There's a term in developmental psychology called the zone of proximal development. I italicize it there so you focus on it. The zone of proximal development is the space between what we can do on our own, and what we cannot do on our own - this is otherwise known as what we can do with help.

How exactly you define "help" is entirely up to you. The space between where I am and where I could be as a writer is filled with help from books, movies, articles, conversations...anything that has tools to make me a better writer. Teachers and instructors are help. Personal trainers are help. Therapists are help. Textbooks are help.

One way you could visualize the zone of proximal development is to imagine a chasm to be crossed. How you go from one side to the other is your help. For me, I like to imagine it as a canvas. An empty plane on which help will be ascribed to.

Think about something that you want to do with the time you have. Where do you currently stand, and how far do you want to go? What steps will you take to reach your goals? These are questions that are commonly asked, and one that I'm pushing you to think about is, what help is there?