Why should you write? Why do I write?

I’m new to the whole Medium thing, and I’m not a gifted writer by any means (or I don’t think so). But I’ve decided to start writing and blogging on this site. This got me to the question, why is writing good for you? How does writing help me as a person? Why should you write? I hope to help you with this small reflection.

1. Sorting your thoughts

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” — Mark Twain

Writing enables the sorting of thoughts. Think of it this way, if you are an average working person, you are awake for roughly 16~18 hours a day. And during all this time, you are actually thinking. Thinking about what’s for lunch, thinking about that party last weekend, thinking about what that guy at the table next to you is thinking about, etc. And these are all superficial thoughts that pass by and are early forgotten. But, we all have those moments where we go deeper down and think of the meaning of life, or ask ourselves fundamental questions concerning areas such as religion or existence of the universe itself. Other important thoughts might involve critical decisions or an event that has just occurred... My point is: you’re thinking all the time.

The thing is, do you process what you think? Can you recall what you were thinking an hour ago? Was it important? What did you forget?

Writing provides a tool that enables us to physically represent out thoughts and write them down in the form of words, which most of the time is quite hard, I will be the first to admit it. But, it also keeps an archive of what we were thinking in order for us to reflect at a later time on our thought processes.

2. Writing broadens knowledge

Wait… What? Hear me out. We all know that reading has huge benefits to knowledge, it widens you’re vocabulary base, as well as most of the time teaching you something that you did not know beforehand. Yet, writing isn’t all that different…

Writing requires us to express our thoughts (expressed earlier in 1.), which means that certain words associated with an accurate meaning need to be used in order to be most effective. I often find myself looking for a word on Google, or translating a word from a different language because of its accuracy to the meaning I am trying to convey. But it does not only stop there, research is often paramount when writing, and most of the time, we all write because we have something to say.

“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” — Scott Fitzgerald

In conclusion, get to writing! What harm can it do? Start sharing you’re opinions and stories on Medium or any other blogging sites. I’m very interested in reading what others have to say, and I’m sure I’m not the only one out there that thinks that.

Cheers!