Realizing Why It's Important to Write & Acting on It

I have never considered myself a "writer". Granted, for many years I have written, but almost entirely for academic purposes. I didn't grow up writing poems or fairytales and I surely didn't write for fun during my undergrad. Papers upon papers upon essays upon homework. That's all I ever really thought writing would be to me. Until I realized, that's only the start. How you have been taught to write isn't necessarily how you ought to.

Quite recently, I've grown to appreciate the fact that there is so much more detail in written work than in an image alone. In a world so caught up with social media and images, we've strayed away from writing how we feel and have drifted into showing it. Problem is, the picture does not actually represent the real, raw, emotion of the event. The picture does not do the experience within the picture justice.

20 years from now, looking at photos (most likely digitally), you probably won't be able to remember the funny joke your dad told right before the photo was snapped, or the excitement you felt for the plane to Spain you were about to board, or how nervous you were while riding the elephant in Thailand. Although pictures of all of these things are great, written word will not only show the experience, but it will allow you to feel it, even 20 years from now.


One reason why I've never written is because I never thought I'd be good at it. I'm not a great story-teller as it is; I forget the details most of the time and have to revert back to the beginning because I most likely left out an important part. My writing kind of works the same. I'm a little bit jumbled and all over the place. Heck, I'm not good at it, but I guess it's not all about being good at something, it's about enjoying the experience.  I can only hope that with what I'm writing now, in 10/20/30 years, I can look back on all of my work and remember how I felt at these moments. I hope that with my writing I can look back on it and smile, shed a tear, or laugh, for I'll know that it was life, and I lived it to it's full potential.

Naturally yours,
N