“Hope is a muscle” — Mary Chapin Carpenter
When I teach writing to my college students, we rarely dive into a new assignment without some writing “practice” first. I tell students that we need to “warm up” to write … just like athletes need to warm up before their workouts and events. You wouldn’t just start running a race, playing a soccer match or go straight into pitching softballs, I tell them. All those activities require you to warm up the muscles first for optimal performance.
The same applies to writing. Because writing is a muscle. And the more we do it and practice it, the more natural it feels. The better we become at the craft.
I’ve been listening to a limited-series podcast by one of my favorite writers, Mary Chapin Carpenter, which she titled “Hope is a Muscle.” Chapin is someone who has continually given me hope with her songwriting and music for more than 30 years. In the podcast, she has conversations with individuals who, like her, started “practicing” hope on a regular basis.
Hope is a concept that I heavily leaned into last year. And in listening to this podcast, that idea of it being a muscle — something we strengthen — has deeply resonated with me. … Whether I practice hope through writing or running, through yoga or listening to music, I’ve realized that hope is a muscle that should never atrophy.
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By the way, I cannot take credit for the “writing is a muscle” phrase. I’m sure I heard it from a writing teacher I had at one point.