why am I writing?

I don’t think many people read chriscorbin.me. Truthfully, I don’t know because I refuse to look at the analytics. I don’t want to see if I have an audience. That’s not why I am writing. 

I am writing because it is good for my mind. 

I believe your mind is your greatest gift. Your mind can change a rainy day from doom and gloom to refreshing showers. The rain didn’t change. Your mind did.  

The best way to improve your mind is to train your mind. Just as resistance training strengthens your body, writing nourishes your mind. And similar to lifting heavy objects almost everyone can write, anytime, anywhere.

Let’s use this simple post on “Why am I writing?” as an example for training my mind. What yielded a mere 385 words of writing, produced far, far more in mental health.

The timeline went something like this: 

——-

I wrote the idea down last Saturday. 

I let it rest on my unconscious mind for seven days. 

I woke up and decided to write. 

I scribbled down a few paragraphs. 

I read Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Writing Advice. 

I read Kurt Vonnegut’s The Paris Interview. 

I purchased Kurt Vonnegut’s The Last Interview. 

I read a Ryan Holiday post on the benefits of walking.

I read another Ryan Holiday post on the magic of walking. 

I reread Steven Pinker’s 13 Tips for Better Writing. 

I skimmed my notes from 100 ways to Improve Your Writing 

I skimmed my notes from Simple & Direct. 

I skimmed my Evernotes with writing tags. 

I watched a Tim Ferriss video about how writing sharpens your thinking.  

I wrote a draft. 

I used dictionary.com 4 times. 

I used the thesaurus.com 22 times. I am not joking. 

I went for a walk. 

I rewrote my draft.

I let it sit.

I slept. 

I woke. 

I stretched.

I journaled. 

I meditated.

I edited the draft. 

I re-edited the draft.  

I posted to chriscorbin.me 

I exercised my mind. 

I made something.

———

The steps taken to get to the sentence you are reading was good for my mind.

And that’s exactly why I write.

Now… it’s your turn.

——-

Another piece of writing inspired by my friends Mario Dot To and Nurture Theory. We believe the thinking that can only be found through public writing improves our lives. We call ourselves the Western Writers League and we’ll get hats made eventually.