Write or Wrong

“Hey I like this whole blog thing you’re doing! Why did you start writing?”

That’s easy. Because EVERYBODY should write. And everybody should share what they write but writing just for yourself is a good enough start. And there are many reasons I truly uphold this belief. If I had to put it in just a couple words they would be: clarity, therapy, transparency, control.

Here’s what I mean by clarity. I’m constantly surrounded by people who are very intelligent and have the potential to bring a lot to the table in an ideological discussion. But so often they lack confidence in their viewpoints. Writing forces you to put your thoughts into words. And once those words are on paper, it becomes much easier to determine whether they actually make any sense. Don’t live your life being unsure of your opinions. Because if you do, you’ll always be in the backseat of the conversation.

Writing is therapy. There have been long periods in my life where my mind felt like a chaotic battleground of conflicting thoughts. I know plenty of other people know what that feels like. It’s overwhelming to have so many questions and no answers. Personally, I was surprised at first by my own words laid out in front of me. I even felt bad about how some of my opinions sounded when I read them aloud. But at the very least writing forces me to reflect on them in that moment instead of laying awake at night. So even if you don’t end up with all the answers, at least you know the questions.

Transparency. This one is huge nowadays because we live in a time where it’s so enticing to hide behind a mask, which is usually just a method of avoiding confrontation. Because if nobody knows where you stand, how can they tell you to stand somewhere else? This may work for individuals but it doesn’t work on a large scale. If everyone kept their opinions to themselves then we’d all be walking blindly through a crowd, guaranteed to eventually bump into each other and get aggressive. But if everyone shows where they stand, then we can see where to walk and we can tell people when they’re in our way. I tell people all the time to be transparent! It just takes a little courage to reap the benefits. Transparency leads to healthy debate and worse case scenario, it ends with you knowing who your enemies are.

Lastly, control. What do I mean by control?

Part of why I started blogging is because I didn’t like the conversations people were having. They didn’t start with good questions. They didn’t start with productive attitudes. They didn’t follow any logical orders. They didn’t end with any articulate conclusions. And I certainly didn’t enjoy being a part of them. I know a lot of people feel the same way. Most importantly, I didn’t feel I had any control over the conversations I was part of.

So I started my own.

Filip, again.