The Dumb Card List Mess I Got Myself Into
So last Tuesday, I said yes to helping my buddy Kate with her baby shower invites. Seemed easy – just a small card list naming the celebration details. I grabbed a pen, sat down, opened my laptop, and boom. Hit a brick wall.
Started writing simple stuff like “Celebrate Baby Smith” – but that felt boring. Then changed it to “Welcome Baby Smith Party” – nah, sounded like an airport pickup. Tried “Joyful Baby Gathering” next. Ugh. Why is this so hard? Spent like an hour typing and deleting, felt like pulling my hair out. The words just wouldn’t fit right together. Even stared at a blank screen doing that blinking-cursor-mock-you dance.
How I Finally Unstuck My Brain
I shut the laptop hard. Seriously. Walked to the kitchen, grabbed a soda, and just stared at the wall for 10 minutes. Breathing helped, actually. Went back and stopped trying to make every word fancy. Just picked ONE thing – the feeling – and built around that. Joy was the winner.
- First draft: “Join our joy for Baby Smith” – better but weird
- Changed to: “Sharing joy for Baby Smith” – warmer
- Final version: “Shower of Joy for Baby Smith” – nailed it
Made a checklist too so next time I get stuck: Pick one core vibe (like happiness or excitement), ditch extra descriptive words, keep it under 5 words total. Boom. Works for birthdays and anniversaries too – tried “Laughter Fest for Bill’s 40th” yesterday. Felt smooth and right.
My Big Duh Moment
Turns out simple beats fancy every time. Overthinking the wording just gums up everything. Now if I get stuck again – which I will – I know to step back and make one single word carry the feeling. Everything else just locks around that. Still shook how well “Shower of Joy” turned out. Maybe the easiest fixes truly are the dumbest.
