Writing and Thinking Work Together

Do you also suffer from the ‘I should know what I want to tell the world before I start writing’ Syndrome?

(Please help me with a better name in the comments 😂)

I’ve suffered from this for years but recently found a cure and am now in the recovery phase.

More than a cure, it is a shift in mindset.

Let’s begin with my story of suffering:

Every morning, I used to open my laptop and stare at the blank screen. For hours.

And the blank screen? It stared back.

As Nietzsche said: “…And if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

The only difference was, this time, there was no philosophy to help me escape.

The truth was simple: Nothing was being written.

I used to tell myself this story: “I’ll come back tomorrow; today I don’t have anything to say.”

You know what happens next- The ‘I will write tomorrow’ Syndrome.

But things started to change last month. I took up ghostwriting projects to help people build their personal brands on Linkedin.

Now, where could I escape? I had to show up every single day.

And it was during this struggle, that it struck me.

It was the “magical” process of writing itself, that was helping me discover what I want to tell.

It is only when I am about to hit “Publish”, that I actually, finally know.

I realized that the whole writing process is nothing but continuously asking myself a variation of “What am I trying to say?” until I get the answer.

Writing and thinking work together.

Writing is how we probe our thoughts and arrive at the deeper meaning we intend.

Isn’t it?

PS: The best this post will do is act as inspiration to understand this process. What’s important is that you trust writing as a process. You trust that you will get the answer. And how will that happen?

By writing more. The more you write, the more you’ll find yourself with answers.

So, give writing a chance.