As a writer, one of the hardest things is having words to say but no outlet to express yourself. This happened to me last week in a weird sort of way. Of course, I have an outlet–this blog. But over the past week, a physical challenge came between me and my keyboard.

Due to past jobs I’ve worked, as well as a car accident years ago, I have issues with RSI (repetitive stress injury) -related problems. This week I have been suffering from a flare-up of costochondritis, an inflammation of the rib cage. In my case, I have been experiencing excruciating rib cage and chest pain making it impossible to do much of anything. Typing is a big no-no when this crops up.

I found myself sitting at my keyboard typing extremely slowly– in order to prevent pain–and limiting my typing time drastically. I knew about Twitter but had not done anything with it. Since I couldn’t do much else, I watched some videos on how to use Twitter and started using the account I set up a while back.

The great thing about Twitter is that your typing is automatically limited. Each tweet can be no more than 140 characters. I took advantage of this and posted tweets periodically. Thus, I didn’t feel like a total waste. Plus, I made some new friends.

Isn’t it interesting how we as humans feel worthless if we’re not doing something productive? I know it’s not supposed to be that way. Obviously, we are so much more than what we do. However, when it’s you that is experiencing it (in this case, me), it’s hard to keep things in perspective.

Well, here’s a reminder to me and to anyone else who needs it.

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others.–Pericles