“No one can tell your story so tell it yourself. No one can write your story so write it yourself.”
When people think of writing, they usually think of dull essays given to them in high school and college to test their knowledge of something they will forget about a week later. The way we approach writing in our educational system puts too much of a negative connotation on the action itself. It is used as punishment. Get in trouble in class? Now write a 500-word essay on why you are in the wrong. What if writing did not have to be like this? What if there was no editing or perfect grammar or endless revising? What if it did not have to be a chore? All too often we think of writing as something we have to do, rather than something we choose to do. Our society seems to be taking advantage of this unbelievable gift we were given. Which is to be able to communicate our thoughts and words in a most transparent and concrete way. Our lives are happening too quickly and too wonderfully not to take ten minutes every night to document ourselves in the moment: who we are, what we are thinking, and how we are dealing. I think everyone will be surprised at how much clarity you get when you write and prioritize your thoughts. Just begin.
Just like photography, painting, and dancing, writing is an art form. And just like any art form, you get out what you put in. Writing requires a piece of paper, pen, and your thoughts. That is all. No expensive camera, paint brush kits, or canvasses. No dance shoes, equipment, or fancy computers.We were made to communicate this way, simple and easy and truly ours. It takes no special skill, just words. Just your words and thoughts. Anyone can write, you only have to give yourself a reason to. Just begin.
The firsts step to begin writing for yourself is to personalize it as much as possible. Buy a journal that makes you smile when you look at it...and mess it up. Accidentally smudge your fingers on it. Mark it again and again with your life. Make it undeniably yours. Take joy in the time you spilled coffee on it or accidentally ripped a page. Is it blue because it reminds you of the ocean? Is it polka dotted because that’s your mom’s favorite pattern? Take your journal to places only you know about and write. Make it yours. Just begin.
Experienced writers turn words into worlds. What you can do is make your story its own world. With its own main characters, protagonists and antagonists. If you want to spend pages and pages describing the five minutes you took to eat breakfast with your family, do it. Describe the way the eggs looked, the way your spouse’s voice cracked in the early morning as she talked to you about your about her day. It doesn’t have to be anything. It can be quotes or doodles or bullet points. Just begin.
“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” - Flannery O’Connor.
There is a clarity that comes with writing. It gives you a chance to prioritize your thoughts and sort them out. When you write, you are reliving parts of your day, you get to get a taste of how you felt once again. Yes, it is a challenge. And yes, I often find excuses not to do it. But the hardest part is beginning. Once you begin, it is hard to stop. You will find that the simple idea of putting words into sentences can transform your whole life. You will find that you have documentation about how you felt after your first big fight with your boyfriend, what it was like to fly on a plane for the first time, or the way you felt after moving into your first apartment. All of life’s little moments we take for granted can be found again. A journal grounds you. Writing grounds you to the foundation of your true thoughts. Just begin.
