Full disclosure to my fellow readers, all three of you, what you are reading now is an absolute last minute, rushed, not well thought out piece of writing. Today is Thursday, July 21st. The current time is 7:50PM and I am sitting on the floor in my brand new house (we have not gotten around to moving in our furniture yet.) I would bet that it is about 80-85 degrees inside my house and I am drenched in sweat. My feet ache from walking around in heels all day at work, I have taught a piano lesson, spent a couple hours cleaning and packing up things from my old house, I am absolutely starving and I need a shower. Yet still, here I am, writing.
I can't even begin to guess how many times I find myself lacking motivation and asking myself.
Why do we write? Yes, I use the word ‘we’ because I know the world of blogging has exploded in the past ten years or so. Writers are everywhere! Pieces like ’9 Things Every Woman in Her 20’s Needs to Know’ and ‘A Letter to My High School Best Friend’ are plastered all over our favorite social media platforms. Every status and tweet is a form of writing. People all over the world have something to say and their words surround us every day on the internet, magazines, newspapers, and even protest signs.
So as I sit here fighting the urge to slam my computer shut and climb into bed, I will motivate myself by exploring the things deep within me that get me to write.
To share. Yes it seems extremely obvious and simple but I would say it’s one of the numbers of reasons why most people write. We take full advantage of the ability to share anything and everything with the click of a button. Every Snapchat of your gluten-free vegan meal or tweet about how long you waited in line at Starbucks is an example of the huge desire to share what fills our world.
Writing allows us to go above and beyond the limits of a tweet or a status update. Writing allows us to share our stories of making it through hard times so that maybe our words may help someone out there that may be struggling as well. Research articles grant us the opportunity to share all that we have learned so that others may become informed on topics that they may never have even thought of. Sharing our favorite album or song is great but writing allows us to share the journey that the music takes us through, the way that lyrics can be more than just words. When we feel extremely passionate about something, from sports to politics, writing allows us to put all those feelings of love or hate out to the world.
As much as our desire to share our stories to the world keeps us writing, there is always a deeper sense of doing it for yourself. Sometimes I do it just to get everything out of my head. Other times, I write just to remember a moment in a way far beyond what looking at a simple photo can do.
So, even if only one person reads this, it is worth it to me. If my words reached the heart of someone that may be struggling with their motivation to keep writing and helps them pick up their pen and put ink on paper, then I did my duty.
What’s more? What if our words never reach a single person?
Here's how I see it. If this blog didn’t get a single view, it will still be enough for me because here I sit with an empty mind and a 500-word achievement to complete my day. Perhaps one day, I can look back and reminisce on the memory of the first day at my new house. Through my words, I’ve built myself a memory that may be more meaningful to me one day than I can ever imagine today.
