I love to write. I’m not sure why, but I seem to do it consistently over the course of my life. A lot of things around me change, my interests change, the people I spend my time with change, my goals change, but writing has always been there.
Here are the 6 reasons why I blog.
1. To Examine Past Beliefs
It’s good to know what you used to think about things at different stages of your life. A blog is like a catalog of your ideas and interests over time. It’s your story. It shows you what you used to obsess about, and what you don’t anymore. What conclusions you’ve come to, and which ones you disagree with now. What disturbed you, and what excited you. Over time, you begin to see a broader pattern emerging that tells you things about who you are and what you’ve consistently valued.
2. To Compile Knowledge
One of the most annoying experiences I’ve had was reading a book, enjoying it, and then forgetting about what I’ve learned a few months or years later. I don’t know if most people are like me, but for me, it’s a tragedy. Life experiences also teach me lessons I may forget. Writing about what I’ve learned from a book or an experience ensures that I never forget a single lesson. It’s a superpower in a way.
3. To Think
Writing for me is how I think. Talking out loud is another way, but I quickly forget my train of thought. Writing outdoes my short-term memory skills by a landslide. I have more freedom to focus on my next thought without worrying about what came before.
More than that, I surprise myself when I write. It’s like there are words and ideas that I’ve trapped up somewhere and they’re just waiting to get out. And once they do, they reveal new information to me. Every time I start a new typing a new word, multiple thoughts engage in a momentary battle before one emerges victorious.
Writing is thinking and thinking is war. War requires direct confrontation, it’s unpleasant, but a period of peace inevitably ensues. In war, you need to constantly be alert and engaged. Writing is micro-war without the morbid consequences (sometimes). It’s finding mistakes in reasoning, it’s questioning assumptions, it’s making connections, it’s seeking clarity.
4. To Have Fun
Any creative pursuit is fun, and writing is no exception. There’s something about creating a defined form from no form at all that’s magical. It’s a miracle that we can write. It’s a gift from nature.
With a limited number of characters and rules, we can express our deepest emotions and thoughts. We can learn about who we are and about who other people are. We can decode events and ideas. We can transform reality. And it’s fun. Really fun.
Watching a movie is passive and is pleasurable in its own way, but when you’re fully engaged in something like writing, your external environment ceases to exist. Time passes by seamlessly. Despite the cognitive dissonance, the struggle, the difficulty of writing, it’s incredibly enjoyable.
5. To Practice Writing
It turns out there’s only one way to practice writing, and it’s to write. I’ve gone long periods of time without writing a single word, but when I go back to writing, life suddenly becomes a lot richer.
To be able to experiment with different ideas and writing styles makes you a more sophisticated communicator. And I don’t mean using big words or anything like that. I mean finding your own voice. A way of writing that you’re comfortable with. The more natural, the better. And the only way to find that voice is by putting in many, many hours.
6. To Help
Reading has changed my life. Not once, but multiple times. If there was one thing that has given me clarity into reality and helped me get outside myself for a second, and see the bigger picture, it’s reading.
The one thing that has helped me understand why I act the way I do, what mistakes I’m likely to make, and what kind of person I am, it’s reading. One piece of good advice can transform someone’s life.
What I try to do is look for the best pieces of advice I could find and compile it in this blog. The idea that someone somewhere might one day benefit from it in some way makes the experience of writing truly meaningful in a way that few things in life are.