I can’t tell you how many Word documents I have scrapped trying to figure out what to write about this week. This isn’t because I can’t think of anything to write about; it’s because I have too much to write about. However, putting those things in words is far more difficult than thinking the thoughts. Through all that, it reminded me why writing is so important to me.
Often times, we think that writers love to write because they’re good at it or because they have something important to say or because they have transcendental depth and revelation. That’s simply not true. Writers don’t write because of what they can do for others but because of what writing does for them. Writing, by nature, is a selfish act. I don’t write for Odyssey every week for the shares (just look at what I average on a week to week basis), I write because of how it helps me to think. And this is precisely why everyone should be a writer.
When I say that everyone should be a writer, I don’t mean professionally. Unfortunately, that is a career designated only for the talented (though their motives for writing are the same as yours or mine). But you should write – even if no one will ever read it. You might never be published, but that won’t matter to you when you begin to see the beauty of writing and how it can help you. So, what has writing done for me that is so awesome?
First of all, writing has helped the way I think. Like I said earlier, there is a vast difference between thinking something and being able to articulate it in a clear and coherent way. I might have some genius stuff up in my noggin, but if I can’t get it on paper, it will never do me or anyone any good. Being able to communicate clearly is one of the most important things to functioning in modern society, and writing can help you get there.
And this will also help you to understand your own ideas in a better way. Sometimes we grasp just the edge of a thought, but we can never get the whole thing without exhausting it. Writing produces a systematic way of thinking. It makes our thoughts and ideas more logical and more coherent. When we write, we think critically and can, therefore, build more solid arguments and logic in our thinking. For example, I might think that blue is the best color. In my mind, I don’t need a reason to think that. But when I start putting it on paper, I have to formulate a logical way to draw that conclusion. Writing is the path that brings our opinions and beliefs full circle.
Another reason is that it affects how I view the world (even if only in a small way). Knowing that I have an obligation to write a new article every week causes me to be on a constant lookout for inspiration. I’m always forced to ask the question, “What compelled me so much this week that it’s worthy of words?” That is a fundamental question that we should all ask because inspiration is all around us. But if we aren’t looking, we miss it. In this case, I found it while struggling with what I should write about.
The funny thing about this article is that it, in itself, is a testament. Before I started writing I didn’t know that I was going to be so inspired by what I was writing to say so much. What began as a simple thought turned into what you’re reading right now. That’s the beauty of writing. It takes what is a simple thought and expands it and exhausts it until it is something far greater than what it started as. It takes even the most basic and makes it beautiful. And I will probably get far more out of writing this than you did reading it, but therein lies the reason I write and why you should too. It’s really not for you, it’s for me.
