On why we should be writing

I go through a crisis of purpose in maintaining this blog often, very often. The usual litany of questions I think many like me ask: why am I doing this? Will anyone read it? Am I doing it well? Etc.

I ran across this great but of wisdom from Akindele Davies in Writing as Self-Discovery: Embracing the Process Over the Outcome:

Writing has a way of exposing our thought processes. It shows us not only what we think, but how we think. In choosing words, revising sentences, and organizing paragraphs, we engage in a continuous act of self-reflection. Each sentence is a tiny piece of self-revelation, a moment of clarity that brings us closer to understanding our own minds. This is perhaps the most valuable aspect of writing—not the finished pieces themselves, but the self-insight we acquire in making them.

So, if you’re feeling drawn to the blank page but find yourself hesitating, don’t worry about whether the result will be “good enough.” Instead, focus on the experience. Approach writing as an experiment, a daily practice that helps you see yourself—and the world—a little more clearly with each word.

I think this applies to just about any "writing crisis", blank page or otherwise. As I said before I spend far too much time thinking about stuff that frankly isn't important. The act of writing and the thought that goes into it in itself sharpens my mind and this is enough.

In knowledge work circles we often wonder what types of things we could be doing to make ourselves better. I ran across this article in the Obsidian subreddit as a response to someone asking why people take notes and this way of approaching it applies to notes as well. Keep notes to sharpen your mind. Whether you ever return to them or not is irrelevant. Just write. There is benefit in just that alone.