A Litany Of My 1-Year Writing Journey
Act the verb and be called the noun afterward. Start first, figure it out and then establish ways to scale through to the finish line — not the other way round.
It’s been one year since I began writing. I remember vividly the situation that led to it. I was supposed to see visit a longtime friend whom I hadn’t seen in a while, and while making those excitatory plans, she was diffusing them with other plans — that eventually led to our meeting getting canceled.
The pain from the disappointment and ripping my tickets apart created the atmosphere to give writing a chance. Something I only dreamed of.
Let’s just say the disappointment gave me the chance to write and the pain from it led me to write.
And I never looked back since then.
There are innumerable ways writing has helped me. It’s always been a long term passion of mine I never had the guts to tap into. But for the situation above, perhaps if I didn’t seize that opportunity, the rest would have been history.
Looking back on my writing journey thus far, I’d say writing found me. Because it has opened me up (heart, mind, and soul) in immeasurable ways I didn’t anticipate and made me to live a more befitting life. At first, writing was just for its sakes, but later on, it formed my advisor, therapist, guardian, muse, hobby, my relaxant, my aspiration. The list goes on…
First thing writing did was help me learn to manage my thoughts, feelings, and emotions properly
The very first article I wrote on June 7th, 2019 “Today Can Still Make Up a Long Time Ago” would have not been the first one to write considering how painful and disappointed I felt when my friend canceled on me. Yet, I turned the situation around and went for what needed to be said, heard, and what needed to inspire me and others at that moment, and hence the title.
Pain is a muse but writing in a bitter way doesn’t serve anyone. So, writing helped me curtail the burning emotion I had and gravitated toward the title. And it has remained so to date. Writing has taught me to be introspective and fish out ideas and topics to write about in any situation I find myself — to express myself — rather than dwell on it — especially if negative.
This title is self- explanatory to my current sentiment. It’s a practical delineation of “practice what you preach” because today literally makes it a year since the last time I began writing. Don’t get me wrong, I was zealous, assiduous, motivated, you name it., but I can’t really believe I’m here now celebrating my one year journey of writing.
Whatever you intend doing; it could be something you feel inclined to, something you’ve always loved doing from childhood and gave it up, it could be little or mighty, it could be something pulling you towards it, take that leap of faith NOW. Don’t be afraid of starting now perhaps you feel the time is gone already because it’s not. You’re in control of your timing and your creator, your time.
Don’t be afraid also of what’s in there for you at the beginning, because the end justifies the means.
Turn your pain into purpose. Turn your anger into fuel to becoming what you want.
Today Can Still Make Up A Long Time Ago.
Writing has propelled me to inculcate the habit of reading — every other day — which has powered up my personal growth skills
To write means to read. When my aunt once told me about it when I was just starting, I didn’t fully understand it until I actually experienced the need. One thing about writing is that you’ve got to love it and love to do it well. When you love something, you’d definitely want to improve on it and so any opportunity, skill, or thing it takes, is what you’ll jump at.
I jumped at reading. Fervently so too; about 3 articles every other day. And it has served me in more ways than improving my writing. It opened my mind and heart to numerous life possibilities and lessons, in various aspects of it— I didn’t know about.
When it comes to writing, reading served as a form of literary mentor to me. It has guided my thoughts and words and hence, my writing style. Reading a lot on Medium (and from other sources too) from several favorite (and successful) authors of mine concomitantly mentored me on how to write better — through imitating their structure, wording and kind of stories to publish too (that I would normally be afraid to)— and adding my unique finishing touches to the whole thing.
Reading has also expanded my vocabulary. The more I read, the more I encounter new words which out of curiosity to learn and grow, have helped me to improve my wording— when writing and orally too.
Like a positive feedback mechanism, the more I read, the more I write.
Reading has become a part of me as it has elaborated my mind to a whole lot of things I can’t finish comprehending. It has continued to enhance my self-discovery journey and nurture my self-improvement, personal growth, and personal development skills, amongst many.
With anything you want to become or do, perhaps a goal that you set for yourself, would always require you to adopt a particular kind of lifestyle or skill. Ask yourself what it takes to effectively and unequivocally achieve the best in what you’ve slated to do and become — and do it.
That’s what I did and it has improved not only my writing skills, but also my life in general, inclusive of my relationship with others — tangibly.
Writing has continued to help me write
Because writing is an important venture to me, it means that the more I write, the more I’m inspired to continue writing — which invariably makes me fulfilled.
With my main purpose of addressing hidden, easily overlooked topical issues in mind, I carved a niche for myself that has produced unstoppable content with consistency thus far.
But this requires critical thinking.
Which makes writing an uneasy thing to do. As a matter of fact I ‘bleed’ (like many authors call it), each time I write. But the joy of going through my article and pinpointing the words which collectively form strings of inspiration, hope, goodness, or any other kind of provocation for a good cause, is all I need.
It’s like a domino effect; the more I write and take my own advice, the more I want to write. Writing more flexes my writing muscles and makes writing articles look easy — benefits of mastery.
Writing has also made me versatile by improving other areas of writing that I do such as speech writing, editing, essays, writing journal entries , job applications, and any other kind of writing for that matter— and to a great extent, my speaking skills.
This is what anything you venture into is supposed to make you feel like. To ginger you for more, as hard as it may be during the process, and not to give up. Just because it’s your passion doesn’t mean you won’t work hard.
Also because “anything worth doing is worth doing well ”— and again.
Writing has improved my overall intellectual ability and confidence
What you (love to) do the most ought to bring out the best in you not impede it. Writing did so for me. When you have a long term goal of what you imagine yourself becoming, you put in the efforts now to start getting there.
Naturally, I’m somewhat a sapiosexual. I’m inclined to engage more with a savant who thinks and speaks really intelligently and/or exhibits other intellectual tendencies regardless of other conspicuous red flags over someone who isn’t.
What this has taught me through my writing is to improve my own intellectual capabilities too. Writing like an intelligent person entails a lot; such as reading more, getting curious to oblivious things, critical thinking, abstract thinking, and writing — alongside improving my capacity to understanding things better (orally, written and/or electronically) — call it common sense or savviness.
This has, in turn, catapulted my self-esteem and confidence up which is evident from my method of presentation. I can face strangers and converse more easily now with them than before, I can engage in discussions with less anxiety and more articulation and swiftness in thinking and speaking. And my listening skills are going up the notch as well— as that’s how I’m able to articulate my findings — either to write about them later, or for the mere purpose of learning a (life) lesson.
Find out what makes you want to love yourself more and capitalize on it. A skill, language, course, adventure, or other kinds of venturing, that aligns with your value.
Ask yourself: Is my current job (or venture) bringing out the best in me or hitching it? Is it aligned with my core values? Does it strengthen my already acquired (interpersonal) skills? Where is it going to lead me?
Writing has harnessed my entrepreneurial skills and mindset
Notice I didn’t mention ‘skills’ only. That’s because being an entrepreneur requires more than just having the skills. It’s a whole mindset and a half. Oddly enough, at about a year ago up till now, I never imagined I would be mentioning the word ‘entrepreneur’ in anything that pertains to my endeavor or achievements but here I am (confidence right?).
To be an entrepreneur of any sort doesn’t necessarily mean you must know what you’re delving into from start to finish. It doesn’t mean you must be a millionaire first either. It’s a matter of starting what you have a flair for and seeing where it takes you. In between achieving the latter, you must cultivate the habit of putting in a good amount of work every time to see it to the end.
Starting is very good but completion is the tricky part. You have to want to keep doing what you’ve set out to do each day. Think about ways to improve, what specific and general skills to adopt, think about other channels to pitch your work even though you haven’t started doing so. Always think ahead of time on what you want to make out of whatever you are into. Have a vision and back it up with your values. Vision + values= mission as formulated by Darius Foroux in “How To Stop Caring About What Other People Do or Think”
That’s what the entrepreneurial mindset is like.
At first, it might appear tedious, figuring out what to do with what you’re already doing. Even more daunting is not earning anything from it. But the goal is to start and the entrepreneurial spirit is to figure out what to do with it to make it into a money-making venture — with other associated benefits.
It reminds me of one of the most inspiring pieces of advice I came across by David O.— If You Want To Be Rich, Don’t Work For Money; The paycheck is addictive — where he started below;
“The rich mindset is the entrepreneur mindset that figures stuff out. Working for free already puts you in a tight position. It forces you to think ‘how am I going to make this work?’. Figure things out and grow rich”.
Literally.
Having an entrepreneur mindset comes with knowing how to handle your consumers too. You need to target your kind of consumers well and use them as a source of inspiration to carry on and neglect the ones that tear you down verbally or silently.
With writing, I’ve come to realize that not everybody needs to like my article, or comment on them for me to appreciate the thoughts and efforts that went in. But when I find people who do, like a tribe, I will collate them and feed off their good vibes for more — in the midst of appreciating them.
I focus more on getting better — always — anyway.
Writing has been significantly beneficial in all areas of my life. It helps me feel purposeful, which has always been a personal prayer of mine. It has enriched my mind incomprehensibly which is specifically important to my overall well-being. It has opened doors and formed a trail to becoming in tune with myself always and the world at large, from different perspectives — via reading, learning, and understanding. Thus, it has improved my cognitive abilities immensely.
Find out what works for you and do you. Act the verb first to be called the noun. Write first and you’ll be called a writer; paint first and you’ll be called a painter. Find out ways to be inspired and stay motivated, and exhibit consistency too in your nature of work. It promotes your work.
Don’t worry about people; the naysayers. The very people who discourage your quest are going to be the same people who will sing your eulogies when you’ve beaten them to it by actually doing the work, figuring it out, and scaling through to the finish line.
Fortunately or unfortunately, with writing, there’s no finish line. The journey continues, and I look forward to more upliftments and the challenges involved — as I wish myself a happy l year writing anniversary.
