It's Okay If Someone Else Wrote About It – Write About It Anyway

Why experience trumps AI, and how to find your unique perspective, even in the noise

Last month, I had what I call my "scroll of doom" moment. I was researching content for women over 40 when I stumbled across not one, not five, but what felt like thousands of creators doing exactly what I wanted to do. Same niche. Same messaging. Some even had the same post titles I'd scribbled in my notebook weeks earlier.

My first instinct? Close the laptop. Forget the whole thing. Clearly, I was too late to this party.

But then something shifted. Instead of asking "Why bother?" I started asking, "What can I add?" And that small reframe changed everything. So I started a new Substack, The Becoming Project, for midlife women.

The Illusion of Saturation

Here's what the internet has done to us: it's made every overlap visible. Before Google, you could spend years thinking you were the first person to connect two ideas, write about a particular struggle, or solve a specific problem. You’d start your business or write your book without knowing someone halfway across the world was working on something nearly identical.

The internet didn't create idea overlap. It just made us painfully aware of it.

And somehow, we've twisted this awareness into a reason to stay quiet. As if the world only needs one person to write about productivity, one coach for divorced women, one newsletter about creative writing. As if ideas were finite resources that get used up.

But here's the thing: your idea isn't yours, but your experience of it is. And if you don't write it, share it, create it – someone who needs to hear it exactly the way you'd tell it will never find it.

What AI Can't Do (And Why That Matters)

I work with AI constantly in my writing process, so I've seen firsthand what it excels at and where it falls spectacularly short. AI is brilliant at patterns, frameworks, and structures. It can generate a perfectly serviceable article about "finding your authentic voice" in about thirty seconds.

But it can't tell you about the time you cried in your car after a client meeting because you realized you'd been performing someone else's version of success for years. It can't capture the specific way your mother's advice sounds different now that you're the age she was when she gave it. It can't describe the weird mix of pride and fear you felt when you finally posted that vulnerable thing you'd been sitting on for months.

AI gives you the scaffold. You bring the house.

Let me show you what I mean. Here's what AI might write about overcoming creative blocks:

"Creative blocks are common challenges that many artists and writers face. To overcome them, try changing your environment, setting smaller goals, or taking inspiration from other creators in your field. Remember that creativity is a process, and blocks are temporary obstacles on your creative journey."

Technically correct. Completely forgettable.

Now here's how a human – someone who's actually lived through creative blocks – might approach the same topic:

"Last Tuesday, I spent three hours rearranging my desk drawers instead of writing the article I'd promised myself I'd finish. Not because my drawers needed organizing (they didn't), but because the cursor on my blank document felt like it was judging me. Creative blocks aren't just about lacking ideas – they're about the stories we tell ourselves about who gets to create, and whether we're good enough to add our voice to the conversation."

Same topic. Completely different universe.

Finding Your Angle When Everything's Been Said

Here's what's coming next:
- The Four Questions Method
- The Personal Case Study Approach
- The Development and Critique Method
- Why Your Identity Is Your Advantage
- The Courage to Add Your Voice

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