Like every child, I had the habit of scribbling on paper. As I grew older, it became a routine of writing random stuff here and there and sometimes as a note to friends for fun.
But as I grew and entered mid-life, it became more than a fun habit; it became a need courtesy of my forgetfulness. I couldn’t remember the grocery items when I went shopping, or if I packed for a journey, I would forget half the essential things. Writing helped me a lot in packing, shopping, and organizing, and most significantly, it helped me pent up my emotions.
So when I decided to write, I couldn’t think of a better topic for my first article ever. Writing is subjective; everyone may not feel the same urge to write, and that’s understandable. However, here I will list out some of the importance of writing that you should contemplate if you are not a fan of writing anything.
Table of Contents
“Start writing no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
– Louis L’Amour
Some of the reasons I think everyone should write:
Write to clear your mind
Have you ever faced a situation where you have a zillion things going on in your mind and you don’t know which one to follow first? The answer will be “yes.”.
Everyone goes through a time when making a decision and acting upon it becomes tedious due to the huge traffic of ideas in the mind. Pen down in sequence all those ideas, starting from what comes to mind first. Now, begin prioritizing those ideas or tasks by putting the most important first, and so on.
You will be amazed by the result, as it will make your task easy, and the mountain that looked so huge in mind will become a tiny mound. You will be able to declutter all the insignificant ideas or tasks that were making your mind weary.
Time travel: Is it possible?
We are all guilty of having this longing to go back to the past and relive those memorable moments. Pictures surely help us take a nostalgic trip; however, if you have been writing in the past, it will fill your heart with warmth.
Finding your written work in your grandfather’s closet and rereading it will fill your heart with joy. If you have kids, write about their childhood or how they are growing in a diary. When they grow up, you can gift them. It will be as good as traveling back in time.
There is no escape: you have to write to be in the game
The above two points are an option to follow or to leave, but this point focuses on the absolute necessity of writing. I have seen multiple people doing the job where they are required to write every day, even when their job is not related to creativity, but technical.
Minutes of meeting, meeting agenda, email to everyone. Whether everyone is doing this willingly or not, sometimes they find themselves stuck with the flow of ideas or how to start writing.
Writing every day, even for a few minutes, will help you to get familiar with the idea of it. It will not be something so foreign that will leave you panic-stricken when asked to write something meaningful.
Take a brisk write and feel the health benefits
Writing about your experiences, especially the distressing or the despondent ones, not only helps you in coping with them, also, it has been shown in the research that it helps you live better. According to a study done by Dr. Pennebaker and other researchers, expressive writing might help people overcome emotional inhibition.
Network-Writing: Bring the trending concept into your life
Well, the term may sound perplexing, but network writing here just means writing anywhere that connects you with people. It can be anything like a product review, service review, YouTube comment, Instagram post, Facebook comment, or tweeting on Twitter. Writing can be in a few words, in sentences, or in paragraphs. Your writing can be helpful to others (I typically rely on reviews to buy anything).
Write to Speak better
People who can write better are most likely to speak effectively. The reason could be the ideas they jot down on paper precisely. Those ideas or effective writing help them remember relatable words for their conversation or speech.
When you have an interview or an important meeting, try to write the conversation or the answers, highlight the cue words, and read them several times.
You may not be able to remember the whole thing that you have written, but it will help you in shaping down and narrowing any unwanted words that were supposed to come out of your mouth had you not written your conversation.
I narrowed down my list on the importance of writing to some of the practical and feasible practices of writing. I am certain that writing is not something that should only be taken as a mission for the creative person.
Everyone should give this a try and see the noteworthy difference in their lives. Writing involves both sides of the brain—the creative and the logical. Emerging in them simultaneously will help you in other fields too.
These are some of the points that I think are important to encourage the habit of writing. Do you agree, or do you have some other suggestions? Feel free to express them here until then.
HAPPY WRITING!
If you want to dwell further on the benefits, here is a video to watch.