Writing is one of the daily habits that has transformed my life. I never thought I could write articles and blog posts like this. A year ago, if someone had told me that I would be writing and publishing articles by next year, I would have laughed at his face. Yet here I am, writing every single day.
Ever since I have understood that writing is a skill, I practice it every day. It is like a muscle that requires exercise to grow stronger.
You Are A Writer
Everyone is a writer. We write emails, text messages, captions, memos, journals, notes, to-do lists, goals, statuses on social media, etc., almost on a daily basis.
You are a writer. You send text messages to your friends and write emails at work. Maybe you write in your journal every day. But how do writing text messages, emails, and journals make you a writer?
When you write a text message or email, you are practicing the habit of writing. You might not care about the grammar or the structure of your writing, but still, you are writing something. That is all you need to start writing.
When you are writing these things, you are putting some thought into them. For instance, when you put up a status on Facebook, you are expressing your thought or feeling. When you are sending a tweet, you are expressing your thought in 280-character writing. Now you need to convert that 280-character thought into a 1000-word article, and that is easily doable. The only difference between the two is how deeply you can express yourself. Learn to express. You can write.
Try it.
Write For Yourself
Practice writing for yourself, not for others. This is important. Writing is not for others but for yourself. But why should you write if nobody is going to read it?
Anne Frank said, “Paper has more patience than people.”
When you write for yourself, you are expressing your thoughts and feelings to yourself. No one will judge you for thinking a certain thought or feeling something. The main reason why people are afraid to express their thoughts and feelings in writing is that they are scared of being judged by others.
- What will people think about it?
- They will notice that my writing is not good.
- I shouldn’t have written that.
- If I write, everyone will know.
Thoughts like these make us feel insecure about expressing ourselves in writing.
Write a journal and don’t show it to others. Start a blog and don’t share it with others. I did the same in the beginning days when I had first started writing. I knew that I wasn’t a good writer. So I didn’t share my writing with anyone because I was doing it for myself.
Once you feel comfortable, share it with some close friends. Ask them what they think. Take their honest feedback. You can even share it anonymously with strangers and take their feedback.
Reasons You Should Start Writing
1. To Become a Better Thinker
Having written more than 50 articles, I have learned that writing has a lot of benefits. For starters, it allows you to think. You not only think about your own thoughts, but you start thinking of different things that are of interest to you.
2. To Become Mindful
You will be mindful of your thoughts and feelings. If you have a habit of writing, you will be constantly observing your thoughts and feelings. And then, you will practice the habit of writing them down.
3. To Keep Track of Your Life
Writing a journal, for instance, helps you keep track of your life. It helps you remember important events and experiences in life.
4. To Learn
Writing is a great form of learning. By writing more, you will learn to write better. You will also learn about different topics. When you write, you learn and research these topics. So you will have a better knowledge of the things that are of interest to you.
5. For Opportunities
Writing brings more opportunities. It allows you to communicate with people who might get inspired by your stories. So you can get more opportunities by showing your work. I recently had the opportunity to speak on a podcast because of my writing.
6. To Grow Your Bussiness
Writing helps grow your business by creating content. It allows you to come up with new ideas for your business. Content marketing, which is a form of digital marketing, allows you to promote your business, products, and services to your customers and potential customers.
Takeaways
You need to stop thinking that you are not a writer because you write almost every day. Writing is about expressing your thoughts and feelings. So it doesn’t matter whether you are expressing it in a 280-character tweet or a 1000-word article. You have to learn to write for yourself first. Learn to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, and stories by writing. You don’t have to be a perfect writer because no one really is perfect. There are several benefits of writing and expressing yourself on paper.
So go on…write!
