Why We Need To Write?

Sheikh Meelad

 

People write for a variety of reasons. For some, it is a career; for others, a hobby. Some write because it helps them to sort out their feelings. Some have a story to tell. And some write because nothing in the world makes them happier.

Have you ever really thought about it? I don’t mean the surface reasons. I mean, what is it about writing that you love? What makes you shake off the disappointment of rejection letters and want to start again? Why are some of us so sure that we were meant to write and others avoid it like the plague?

Before talking about people, let me introduce my perspective towards writing. I write because my passion demands me so. The passion in my heart and soul need to come out, so writing is the only way that I can do this. Passion is what makes a writer. If you do not have passion for what you are doing, well, you won’t be able to write. I write because I want someone to feel something. I write from my experiences, hoping that someone might learn something, feel happy or even enjoy sadness.

Aside from the fact that writing is an inescapable part of everyday life, there are many good reasons you should make a good session of writing part of your daily routine, even if it’s just a few hundred words. You don’t have to be a pro to reap the benefits of creating the written word. Writing can have enormous positive benefits in your life and let me name some of them.

Writing can be therapeutic. It can be a way to vent all the pent-up frustrations burdening your mind into a far less volatile form, paper (or screen). You can address your anger, fear, worry and stress without bludgeoning the person who embodies those emotions for you with a paperweight.

Writing can serve as a form of cathartic stress relief where you finally get to say what you can’t say out loud, in real life. Just don’t let your vented feelings get into the wrong hands, or you may end up paying some pretty hefty blackmail cash. A daily writing habit gives you regular time to sweep your mind for forgotten tasks and ideas that have been fermenting in the back of your head without your knowledge. It allows you to take the unordered thoughts floating around your head like lost puppies in zero gravity, and turn them into ordered plans and actions.

Another benefit of writing every day is, even in a stream-of-consciousness, unedited format will maintain and gradually improve your writing skills, and since dealing with the written word is a fundamental part of daily modern life, there’s nothing bad about that.

Get away from the constant low-quality input and output systems of day-to-day life, such as meaningless small-talk and weather conversations, text messaging, Twitter, checking the mailbox, and most email and many websites. You receive and create barrages of useless distractions that don’t help you or the people you know; sitting down to write lets you get away from it all. It’s important to keep the noise to a minimum so you can focus on creating and receiving strong material, things that are really worth reading and writing.

Part of the reason so many people do not get what they want in life is because they do not know what they want from it. Certainly not the main reason that people don’t get what they want, but in so many cases it is the obstacle. How can you get what you want or achieve your dreams if you’re not 100% clear on what they are?

Writing each day gives you time to think carefully and reflect on what you want to achieve the most, and develop a clearer, achievable image and plan for that result.

In a fast-paced society it’s easy to forget things like what you believe in and what you’re doing this (whatever this may be) for. Letting words flow out of your brain unedited can introduce you to a part of yourself you’d been censoring from yourself to cope with everyday life. Why did you start down the path you’re currently on? This is an important question whether you consider your current path to have begun on the weekend, or a decade ago. Discontentment, disillusionment, and unhappiness often come from forgetting why we’re doing something (or, on a different track, not having a good reason for living a certain way) and it is important to keep those simple reasons at the forefront of your mind or you run the risk of letting your life become a series of boring, menial actions. It’s not only important to remind yourself of your motives for your current actions; it’s important to monitor your actions to see if they align with your life goals so that you can change them. Sometimes, the only way to keep such a close monitor on your actions and goals is to write about them every day.

One of the most instrumental changes in my life has been writing every single day. For many years I was a writer who didn’t write that regularly. It was always on the back of my mind to write, but I didn’t find the time. But now, I tend to write every day. I think for people like us (Kashmiris) who have suffered their share of traumatic experiences, Writing can help us carve those experiences into words. In this way, this could be something meaningful for our next generations to come. Do write, do it every day!

(The writer can be reached at Sheikhmeelad@gmail.com )