Why Writing For Yourself Can Change Your Life
What I Learned From My First Month on Medium
After spending many years writing technical reports for clients as an electrical engineer, I decided it was time to write for myself. I came across an article on Medium which intrigued me to look inward at my own experiences and viewpoints. I never thought about it, but I have a lot of internal dialogue. Internal dialogue that has a lot to say, all of the time! Most days I ignored it, but now I started to listen. What I realized was that the conversation contained many ideas which were typically lost to lack of attention. They were conjured up and then tossed aside to never be heard from again. Same was true for the experiences which I had gathered along my journey of kicking dependences and weight loss.
I chose to change that habit of discarding ideas and experiences and focus my energy on expanding those ideas and revisiting the lessons learned from my experiences. Now, about three weeks into writing, I’m excited that I took that step. Not only did I start writing, but I started to wake up at 4am some days because the ideas keep coming and the feeling of creating a tangible work from them is thrilling! I previously considered the thoughts small, or the experiences minuscule, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’ve been able to expand the smallest idea and take huge lessons out of those “minuscule experiences”.
Your experiences and ideas have massive amounts of potential behind them. Everyone has led different lives and learned different lessons. Your perspective could help propel someone further in life or even support you again at some point in your life. Recognizing the thought and expressing them in words is developing your unique voice. The voice only you know and only you can translate. I’ve learned that by paying attention to that voice and not letting it fade away, I’ve created a way to release that potential energy back into the world. Energy that can, one day, benefit me again, and hopefully help others who may read it.
The month of February has been an eye-opening month. By pushing the limits further on my mind and body, I’ve created a new path that I’m excited to venture down. I started writing in the beginning of February 2020, a few weeks before completing my first ultra-marathon. I used it as an outlet one morning, and it snowballed from there. When I decided to post my first article on Medium, I was skeptical. I had started writing for myself and sharing it with family, and I thought that writing for myself meant I should just keep it personal or it would be less impactful. However, I had a desire to share it with others and see if it could help them. After I released it, I started to receive texts from other friends, and I was surprised at their positive responses. I was ecstatic that my writing was benefitting others and all I had to do was type it out!
After posting my first ten articles on Medium in February 2020, three of them were curated, a couple were published by a top publication, several other publications had added me as a writer, and they made almost $10. I never expected any of that to happen and I don’t know if that’s common, but for me, it reassured me that my writing was being recognized and potentially helping others. Focusing more time towards writing will be the next step moving forward, for both Medium articles and personal, but there are a few key points I would like to discuss that I’ve learned thus far.
Pay Attention to Your Wandering Mind
Everyone’s mind will wander throughout the day, whether it’s driving to work, sitting in the shower, or on your daily jogging route. Next time yours does, focus on the thoughts and ideas you have surfacing. Take some time to really listen. Drown out all other distractions and clear a path for those ideas to travel down.
Look back on your life. What have you recently overcome? What was a solution to a life problem you had? Did you ever have any addictions or bad habits that you were able to give up? Have you become a subject matter expert in a topic through the experiences you’ve had? These are just some of the questions I want you to ask yourself. Your life is unique and so are your experiences. If not for the sake of helping others solve problems, these experiences are something you should document for yourself, or even your close family. You may have an invaluable life experience which you could look back on when you’re too old to remember!
Grab an Idea and Just Start Writing
Take the first idea that comes to your mind and write it down. Figure out what the main topic is and how you relate to it. Why did it surface to the forefront of your mind? Is it possible that it has significance? Explore it. Ask yourself questions and write down the answers. The answers will generate more questions and lead to more answers. The words will start to flow onto the paper or screen, just keep writing.
When you start to slow down in your writing and the sentences flow a little less, rebuild the momentum. Imagine it like a rollercoaster. When the coaster is going downhill, all the momentum and gravity is flowing in the same direction. The words and sentences flow easy. As the cars reach the bottom and start back uphill, momentum slows, and gravity starts to act against it and more strain is added. Words are there, but the flow isn’t there. So, go back to the top of your writing. When the coaster reaches the top again, the force against it is less, and as it heads downhill again, the momentum and coaster picks up speed. Re-read your article. It’ll refresh your mind and the momentum will allow new thoughts to flow. It’s worked every time for me. Either I add new paragraphs and sentences midway through, or I have a new idea to continue the article. To be honest, it sometimes can extend your writing beyond what you thought, but who cares! You’re writing for yourself! I thought this was going to be a short article, but I’ve already hit 1000 words. Keep reading if you appreciate it!
Make a List of All Your Ideas
I’ve learned while writing these last few weeks that my mind goes on tangents when it’s wandering or writing. So, what I started to do was create a sheet in my notes app with all the other ideas, thoughts, and memories I have when my mind is busy. I’ve even stopped mid-jog to take out my phone on the trail and type the ideas in. Making a habit of this will give you endless writing topics! I have about 30 new topics to write about on my list and have added several more while writing this! Just take the ideas and write them down. Even if they don’t pan out now, in a few months you may look back and say “Wow, I completely forgot about that, why didn’t I write about it yet?”
Post When It’s Good, You’ll Always Love It
I admit I’ve spent more time on one article than I should have. That’s most likely the result of years writing research and analysis reports for demanding clients which must be technically sound and well planned out. It’s also the perfectionist mentality I developed throughout engineering.
I must have gone over one of my posted articles about ten times. Each time adding or subtracting information, until finally I said, “OK, good is enough, you’ll spend months and still not think it’s perfect.” Focus on the main topic, say everything you want, review it once for content and clarity, proofread it for grammar, and then put it out there.
Focus on the Writing, Not Your Stats
There are too many websites and apps that determine your status based on your metrics. Don’t let your writing be included in that cluster. Write for you and for the sake of helping others. If it takes off, good. If it doesn’t, good. If it makes you feel good writing it or it helps someone who reads it, AWESOME!
Your stats will always be there for you to see, but don’t write with the intention of likes or claps. In this saturated world of content creation, that’s the quickest way to become discouraged and for you to give up on something you may get a lot out of.
Our technology forward world will always be full of distractions, so it’s easy for us to ignore the ideas and thoughts we have. Allow yourself to venture into your mind and explore the concepts it develops or the memories it recreates. Grab a pen, your phone, a laptop, a paintbrush, whatever, and translate it something tangible. Just create a reality out of the thoughts, keep it for yourself or share it. I highly recommend trying it, it may be liberating, or it may not be for you. You’ll never know the truth until you at least attempt it!
