Why do I write? Several reasons actually. Writing helps me think. It helps me process my thoughts and ideas. Seeing my musings in black and white puts things in perspective for me. I’d be lost without the opportunity to voice my innermost feelings because I do not excel at verbalising myself. Given the choice between speaking and writing, I would always choose to write because I feel a sense of control – I can always use the delete button, after all! Speaking is more dicey; I never know what I might end up saying cause I either get tongue tied or launch off into a tangent that sees me stating something I had no intention of saying!

Also I think writing is in my blood. I know that my grandmother loved to write and when she passed away, I was given all her notebooks filled with copious notes of her devotions. I also come from a family of writers, some who’ve been published and most who have not. That does not stop us from writing though! We love to express ourselves through the written word.

Since writing has always come so easily to me, I think I’d begun to take it for granted. I would find new and novel reasons to delay writing. If I sat down to write, I’d find myself at a loss for words (literally) and end up complaining about writer’s block. Eventually, I realised that going for any length of period without writing—for me—was a mistake, as I did not give myself the space to think things through and process life. Suddenly finding myself living a barren existence, going through the motions of daily living, but not taking the time to really be still and think, was a wake-up call. This was not life; this was a prison of my own making, with me feeling rather like the hamster on a wheel!

Hence, the writing challenge – to motivate myself, and others who might feel similarly, to begin putting our thoughts into words, to process our beliefs, to find the courage to state our convictions, to even reach a point where we have convictions! All very necessary to live a truly meaningful life, I think.

Ultimately, this challenge provides us a space to cultivate the discipline of writing, and that is genuinely soul-satisfying.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash