I write to discover what I know.
— Flannery O’Connor
Recently, due to coronavirus and travel restrictions, there’s seldom chance for me to speak English, I’ve been aware that my tongue gets twisted when I tried to read some BBC news out loud few days ago. Not to lose the ability of speaking the language, I might once awhile express myself here in English.
Before I get to the point of why writing could possibly be a new habit for me, I’d like to share my motivation behind it first, which is ‘TRAVEL’.
Yea, travel has been my my biggest passion since the age of 19. It literally builds up half of my personality, and it is also the main reason that drives me to get out of my comfort zone.
Sharing unique things I saw and experiences I had on the way have always been on the top of my to-do list. But, somehow I feel either hard to open up or too personal to publish those memories on a cold and intangible online platform. For the past 6 yeas, I’ve not yet ready to do it.
This year, I began to pick up reading habit, then I came up with an idea of sharing writers’ point of view on Medium, so that sometimes I get to merge some of my own experiences and photos into the article. This actually lights up my way of thinking!
So, back to the point, let me present 3 benefits I see myself changing because of writing!
#1 Energize Learning Motivation
As I am the person who needs a clear goal to achieve better results, I set a target to write 4 articles a month. Well, to not let myself down, I have to work hard to keep absorbing new things, so most of the time I’m in the cycle of reading, learning and exploring something interesting.
In order to balance a static and dynamic lifestyle, learning how to manage my time effectively is also a must, like planning things ahead to finish some research and books on weekdays, so I can fully enjoy my little weekend getaway.
#2 Optimize Brain Function
I was a slow reader at the beginning, one 500-page-book usually took me three months to finish, but after I begin to practice some fast reading skills, and try to stay focus in a short period of time, now I can read two books in a month!
I know some people out there can read one book a day. But hey, comparing is not a healthy mindset, making little progress day by day may end up a huge deal in the future.
One thing I notice that writing definitely changes me is that, my brain will start to organize thoughts in a logical way, whenever I pick up on the key points during courses or reading, it actually links faster to similar ideas from the database.
#3 Strengthen Self-reflection
From an article of Quanta magazine ‘Researchers find evidence that neural systems actively remove memories, which suggests that forgetting may be the default mode of the brain.’. Now I feel relief not being able to remember what my mom told me to buy at the grocery store. Haha.
Since we can’t squeeze everything into our brain, and better not rely on the memory as well, writing down important things can be a great choice. As time goes by, the whole thinking process can easily be examined.
Although most of my posts here are about book reports, I do also track my emotions once a while on the app. I haven’t started this habit long enough to actually recommend doing it, but from my few weeks of experience, the mixed feelings could be analyzed at the time when I type down each emotion, and give myself a better understanding for future improvement.
The journey into self-love and self-acceptance must begin with self-examination. Until you take the journey of self-reflection, it is almost impossible to grow or learn in life.
Iyanla Vanzant
The potential benefits of writing differ from person to person, but I would say it gives me a lot of pros and almost zero con(except it takes longer time for a beginner to produce one).
For whom haven’t started yet, I encourage you to join me, it’s easy as it sees, just pick up a pen or phone, and start recording life 🙂
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