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1000 (Why I Write)

Almost exactly one year ago today, I started a journey. As I pressed the publish button for the first time I was entering the foray of ideas and concepts that millions of others before have covered, and many more after me will. I had no idea what the outcome of my endeavor would be. In fact I didn’t even know if I would actually follow through once I had started writing.

Sometimes we discourage ourselves from ever taking that first leap. We become confused; discouraged. We measure ourselves to those around us. We convince ourselves that they are impossibly better than us. We can never hope to achieve even a semblance of the talent or skill they possess. We tell ourselves that to try would not only be an insult to those above us, but also a disgrace to us for sullying the very thing we so dearly wish to partake in with our own attempt. For many, this is where it ends.

We see our goals or dreams through the jaded lens of the reality we feel would kill them and choose simply not to give the world that chance. Through our own imagination, we personify what we fear. We give all these fears a form in our mind. They become a soul-consuming creature; a beast with no other purpose than to ensure our own failure. We feed it our every concern and character flaw. We give it the keys to our very mind, to our goals and aspirations. We then lament that the path to our dreams is guarded by that monster. We become prisoners in our own minds, with our fears guarding us lest we ever escape.

When I pressed that button for the first time, however, I was making the decision to take on that monster. We must accept that possibility of failure, and with that moved forward to overcome. That doesn’t automatically mean we succeed however. Far from it! What it does is it gives our dreams a fighting chance. We are never guaranteed success at anything in life. The very notion is the fantasy of the foolish and naive. However, by choosing to continue and to fight for our aspirations we turn those fears into tools we wield. We accept them as valid, but they no longer are controlling us. The fears which were invalid fall away. Those that are valid we use to our advantage, to chart our path and to map what we must strive to avoid.

I’m sure this pattern as every pattern has variations. For me though this was the principal issue when I first considered writing. I don’t consider myself a remarkable writer. Doing so would just be lying to myself. I don’t consider myself an expert in many things either on the same logic. When I decided to write, I did so for two reasons. The first was I wanted a way to get better as well as to help foster discussion and intellectualism with people less versed in some of the subject I cover. I felt many topics in many fields were unfriendly or even hostile to new participants and I wanted to help change that. The second and arguably more important reason, was I wanted to improve myself and my writing in such a way that it could benefit others.

In some sense, I feel I’ve accomplished both of those goals this year. In other ways I don’t think I’ve even come close. Yet here I am a year later able to write this now because I tried. A full year later I actually have something I can look at and both admire and critique. Something that despite the imperfections I am proud of. Something that as of now one thousand unique people have viewed and in some small way been a part of. My thanks goes to each and every one of you. When I started writing articles I never expected to even get a hundred viewers, let alone a thousand unique ones and dozens of routine readers. I can’t take credit for it. I was just the one who took the first step. You, my esteemed reader, are the reason I would call this year a resounding success. I thank you for sharing and continuing to share my work. I thank you for giving me suggestions on what to cover. As I continue on this and the other adventures I’ve started I thank you for being along with me. Because at the end of the day, it’s not about the destination, it’s all about the journey.