I Write To Learn

I have no idea what my opinions are on a topic until I sit down to write about it. However simple or nuanced the topic, I always find out more about my thoughts in the process of putting them into print.

Nothing clarifies thoughts more. Nothing more forces you to consider what someone else would be thinking on what you have to say than putting it in a medium where others might see it, read it, and share with you their favorable or not so favorable opinions.

It forces you to do that bit of research you need to fully grasp a topic or what you have to say about it. That’s why writing, more than anything, is a learning process for me.

Not in the way I’m accustomed to. Be that a lecture, a video, or a conference.

It’s a process of learning about myself. About what I think and feel on a particular topic as it spills onto the page. Personally, I seldom know where I will end up.

I find out where I’m going as I write it. Not before.

Nevertheless, if you asked me before I sat at the keyboard, I’d tell you I have a solid idea every time. I’d say that I know the destination, but am not yet sure how to road will bend to take me there.

The reality is that the road often bends me in a completely different direction than I was expecting.

I learn from the research which molds and forms my thinking. I learn from the comments of others after they’ve read it. I learn from the act itself, that I can never be certain of anything.

That I can only take my best shot at exploring the truth as I see it in that moment.

That there is always another perspective I haven’t taken into account.

A piece of history I have yet to learn. An angle I could not or would not see.

Writing is the process of constantly being humbled by your ignorance only to have it swing to arrogance and be beat back down all over.

But then, again, you realize that that feeling of being ‘right,’ ‘skilled’ or ‘talented’ was never the aim.

The aim was to learn. And, the feedback, whether positive, negative, or silence teaches you in itself.

That is why I write.

(Mostly just wrote this to myself, and figured why not hit publish. Kudos if you’re still here )

You can also find me on social media here, here, here and here

Feel free to say hi on social :)

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