Why am I writing Articles in Medium anyway??
I’ve been very “Slack” these days when it comes to writing articles here in Medium, and it got me thinking about why I write in the first place? It’s not like someone is forcing me to write these articles, or it’s my JOB to get on here and share crap about my life and work….so what’s the point? So I started asking myself a bunch of questions. Is it because you want to get better at writing? Is it because I want to share things that have been a challenge for me in my life that may provide insights to others? Is it because writing makes me feel good?
The reality is that it’s all of these things and more! It takes discipline to write an article and press submit, giving the world access to thoughts, feelings, and things that I’ve learned or perhaps things that I’m still struggling with. Sometimes I think that as a man, telling other men how I feel or what I’m struggling with just feels way more challenging than sitting in my office alone typing into a computer. So as I think about the reasons that I’m writing articles, it’s all the above! Do I want to help others? YES..Do I want to get better at writing? YES…. Do I feel better creating and writing articles? YES.. As I reflect on my life and when I’m feeling the best, it’s typically when I’m doing something creative and I’m in no way claiming to be some guru, but I have been approached by people who have read some of my articles and they have appreciated the content. Which is proof that when we create, we just don’t know the impact it might have on another human being. Even in my own life, reading about another man’s challenge or a lesson learned has helped me grow and I wouldn’t be the same man without learning from someone who was willing to share.
When doing creative things, I tend to at times deal with imposter syndrome and the saboteur in my brain will begin to attempt to de-rail my creative process by saying things like… “You aren’t a writer!” or “Nobody is reading your articles anyway” and I’ve come to realize that really none of that matters and training my mind to silence the internal critic is a part of the process. It seems the more I tell that voice to shut the fuck up, the weaker the signal. Funny how that works…. whether it’s the gym, eating junk food, avoiding relational bad habits comes down to telling that negative voice to shut the fuck up! And for me at least, every time I tell myself I’m going to do something and when I follow through despite the critics voice telling me not to do it for whatever reason, I gain strength and confidence. On the other hand, when I submit to that voice, I take a step backwards in my confidence and in my self progression and my life results begin to trend in the wrong direction.
Knowing that this is the law of the land for whatever reason, it’s key to follow through on my commitments to myself. As it relates to writing on this platform and creating content, I’ll be continuing to write for all the reasons I mention above. It has the potential to help others feel as if they are not alone, It helps ME to feel better by contributing and creating, It also allows me to put in the repetitions required to get better at something. So my suggestion for others is that they pick some form of medium that will allow you to express yourself and your experiences as we all have incredible value to provide others. My life experiences have resulted in a certain set of circumstances that have provided challenges that I’ve overcome and I feel it is now my responsibility to share that with others as this may help them deal with similar challenges quicker and with less pain. Isn’t that how we all learn and get better???
The world we live in currently is filled with consumption! And I’m guilty of it…sometimes trapped in a scrolling mode like some addict zombie just killing time, zoned out for the purpose of entertainment even though I know it’s NOT healthy to do. Meanwhile I’m getting triggered seeing my children doing the same? Perhaps a little hypocritical? So I’m going to continue to write and create and work towards reducing the consumption so that I’m leading by example and I hope after reading this you begin to move the needle as well.
