So, you are about to read the 100th post here on my blog. I started writing in December 2013, less than 4 years ago. That was when I launched my personal website and my blog, The Positude.
It all started when I was going through a period of post break-up pain. I was quite the mess back then, so I started reading a lot of self-help books and seek the company of people who had a positive influence on me. So after months and months of trying to lift myself from the whole I was in, I felt I had learned a thing or two about how to (re)gain a positive outlook on life. And that’s why I wanted to share those lessons. So I started writing.
While it all started as an attempt to help others benefit from what I was learning, I was gaining a lot myself. Pouring my thoughts and feelings into my blog became a cathartic experience. As someone who thinks a lot, I struggle with having too many unstructured thoughts. What writing allows me to do is to crystalize and prioritize the important things in my mind. It puts structure into a mental arena that is generally pretty chaotic.
What later fueled my motivation to write were the reactions I got by some – people who read my posts and in one way or another were able to relate to what I was sharing. Most often because my writing helped them gain a new perspective on situations they had been through themselves. Every now and then one of my readers would summon up the courage to write and share their story with me, and those were the moments I realized that I am not alone on this journey and that there are others who are going through similar experiences. And more often than not, their journey helped me change my perspective as well.
Now, 100 articles later, I look on a writing rhythm of “every other week”. Was I planning to write that much? Nope. Do I think I am particularly gifted at writing? Certainly not. So why am I writing then?
Well, I am writing because it’s fun. It gives me an opportunity to reflect over the things I experience and learn as I walk through this journey called life. I do have a personal, hand-written journal in which I write much more personal thoughts, but my blog has become the platform where I hope to share my life’s “aha” moments. The situations that taught me a lot and which I think can help others change their perspective, too. Funny enough, I sometimes go back and read my old posts when I go through similar situations again. It helps to read about the things I learned the previous time and then try to avoid making the same mistakes the new time around.
Some might wonder if I write to get noticed, to get recognition, or to influence people’s perception of me. On that, all I can tell you is that not a single time have I checked the stats of how often my posts are being read. My thoughts are just out there, and if someone is curious enough to want to learn more about me, they can find them and read them.
Going forward, I plan to write even more. It has been such an act of healing and learning, that I couldn’t imagine stop doing it. And sure, it gets personal at times, but I do wonder if being publicly vulnerable will ever fire back on me, but so far it has only attracted good things and people into my life.
Thank you for reading, please feel free to follow by subscribing to my newsletter on the right side of this page.
This is the second post in my series “why I do what I do” – hoping to provide more color on some of the decisions that I make in my life. I plan to write about the things that drive me and what I hope to achieve. The first post was about “My love for Iran.”