I’ve always thought it was obnoxious when people said they were trying to “find themselves.”

I think part of that is because when I was younger, I had a pretty good handle of who my self was. I spent a lot of time in my own head. I read a lot. I put a lot of silly in the world, just because. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by people who let me talk a lot, who let me ramble on until my words became ideas and projects and passions.

Then I had kids, and I worked all the time, and I grew away from people, and I stopped doing the things that helped me to continually shape who I was. When I did get to spend time with people, even I was bored with what I had to say.

I stopped blogging because I didn’t feel like I had anything worth saying, let alone worth anyone else reading.

I didn’t do anything anymore. I didn’t think or write or create things. If I had spare time, I slept. Or I worried about the stuff I should be doing, or I watched TV to block out worrying about the things I should be doing. Sometimes I mutitasked and dreamt about the things I should be doing.

That’s no way to live. It’s not living at all, really.

Which is to say, I’m currently one of those insufferable people trying to find themselves.

My first step has been to do a lot of reading. I’ve gone back to reread the books that I’ve always considered to be the building blocks of who I am. I’m surfing Flipboard to find new things that spark something in me. I’m applying for jobs and opportunities that excite me. And I’m catching up on the bloggers who I used to read faithfully— binging on the several years of material that I’ve missed out on.

One of those bloggers is Seth Godin, and this passage (taken from this post) made my hair stand on end.

There’s a lot to admire about the common-sense advice, “If you don’t have anything worth saying, don’t say anything.”

On the other hand, one reason we often find ourselves with nothing much to say is that we’ve already decided that it’s safer and easier to say nothing.

If you’ve fallen into that trap, then committing to having a point of view and scheduling a time and place to say something is almost certainly going to improve your thinking, your attitude and your trajectory.

A daily blog is one way to achieve this. Not spouting an opinion or retweeting the click of the day. Instead, outlining what you believe and explaining why.

Commit to articulating your point of view on one relevant issue, one news story, one personnel issue. Every day. Online or off, doesn’t matter. Share your taste and your perspective with someone who needs to hear it.

Speak up. Not just tomorrow, but every day.

A worthwhile habit.

Annoyingly, it immediately earwormed that song Say Something by A Great Big World for me. And now, I’m sure, for you. You’re welcome.

Say something, I’m giving up on you—

I’m not giving up on me. I hope you haven’t yet.

I’ve got something to say, and I am saying it because I need it, and that is poetry. (Apologies to John Cage for morphing his quote, which I featured in the first blog post I ever wrote.)

I’m committing to articulating every day. My point of view. Refinding my voice. Getting silly. Getting noisy.

Say something.

Have something you’d like me to talk about? Hit me in the comments.