My courage to write despite fears is founded on a few realisations. I will share them with you to encourage you to do the same.
Because for many introverts, when you write and share your thoughts, you feel naked and exposed.
Your mind conjures up images where strangers finally realise how stupid you are, how naïve or snobbish you sound, or how silly you are to write about things that others don’t care about.
I felt it before I started this writing project, irwanhanish.com, years ago.
I overcame those fears through a few realisations:
To write is to self-educate
Most often, ideas visit us in vague fragments. When we write, we capture those fragments. We assemble them into a coherent structure (at least to ourselves). The strands of thoughts are created, destroyed and reforged by reason and imagination.
It educates us in 3 ways:
1. Ideas become clearer, compared to when we just read or listen to them
Writing crystallises ideas that were not clear before, because it shapes the gaseous cloud of thoughts into solid written forms which you can ‘see’.
As learners, when you’re not sure whether you understand something, write it down in proper sentences.
Then close your notes, and write them again without looking. You’ll see which parts you are clear about, and which you need help with.
2. We avoid costly mistakes
Once we write our ideas down, you will be amazed at how many of them that seem so right in our head turn out to be embarrassingly the opposite.
Writing also encourages us to look things up, either to verify our perspective or to examine opposing views.
For example, I learned a lot about the difficulty of being kind when I wrote about the Lucifer Effect.1How to be Kind Despite the Lucifer Effect
And, from time to time, readers will comment on or message us personally, to point out missteps in our thought process.
Their feedback refines our thoughts.
We would miss such valuable feedback if we only think through our ideas alone, without writing and sharing them.
3. The delights of creative connections.
You will discover moments of connections between ideas that you never noticed before.
Or, you discover a new way to express what you already know in a more captivating, elegant form.
Admittedly, this is a qualitative, personal reward; you can’t measure it or prove it to others. It is like trying to explain falling in love to those who never experience it.
Writing can transform our random thoughts into something useful and, when we’re lucky, beautiful.
You might unknowingly help others
There are points in life when we fall into a dark hole.
I had one of those years ago. I was not smart enough to finish my PhD, my family was in financial trouble, and my important relationships imploded from within.
I disappointed myself, hurt others, and felt like a complete failure.
Fortunately, my coping mechanism was reading. I read far more than I ever did. I neglected my study, didn’t eat properly, and just lay on my bed in that tiny studio on Hunter Street in Newcastle, Australia, reading self-help books, mostly to fight off dangerous thoughts I had.
(Important: In retrospect, keeping suicidal thoughts from others was dangerous. If you notice signs of depression, reach out for support.2Signs of Depression by Healthline Sincerely seeking help is not a weakness.)
Over time, I crawled out of that dark hole.
Here’s the important point: it wasn’t one piece of writing by one legendary author that saved me.
I was saved collectively by professionally written books and religious articles, as well as amateur blog posts, and even thoughtful YouTube comments.
When each of them wrote down what they had learned about their life, they unknowingly saved mine.
Writing skills are not needed to begin
You may be worried you are not good at writing. And yes, people will see how flawed you are.
Yet, by keeping on writing despite those fears, something you write will one day help someone, somewhere, even if you don’t know about it.
You will experience humbling gratitude when someone lets you know you have helped them
That is how I feel when my readers took their time to message me or email me, to thank me for something I have written or said in my videos.
Once, I have even received a handwritten letter by a 16-year-old:
Honestly, this year has been a really tough year for me. I don’t know exactly how it came about but it took a toll on me mentally and emotionally I guess.
When I stumbled upon your blog, you said there that you write to help someone, anyone, even if you don’t know about it. Well, your writing really helped me.
I can’t really remember which one was it but it made me cry. A cry of relief probably but I felt better after that and it gave me hope that I could keep on continuing to work hard and improve myself so that I can also help others.
Knowing that I have helped her is more meaningful to me than any professional recognitions I got from my formal, scientific writings.
So, if you have been reading this far, chances are, deep down, there is something you want to write and share with others.
I encourage you to start writing, even if you are not great at it.
Embrace your vulnerability. Start writing today with sincerity and a desire to help, and you might just change someone’s life—including your own.
To write something that matters, it doesn’t begin with being a brilliant writer; it begins with the sincere, courageous desire to help others.
Notes:
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- 2Signs of Depression by Healthline