The sole reason I'm penning this one is this: as a reminder to myself, for those moments when my complacent self tries to discourage me from writing, with the excuse that it's a pointless endeavour. At this moment, I'm motivated and able to think straight, so I'll take advantage of that to create an object which is likely to be a potent weapon against procrastination in the near future.
Be prepared though (as is common with articles listing reasons) to see some less than reasonable reasons why I think I should blog regularly. Damn, that list gotta be a round figure to make any sense!
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Have you ever needed to remember some important things that happened years back in your life? It really sucks when after straining your brain to its limits, you still cannot remember events in as much detail as you require.As time passes, the memory simply tends to lose the most intricate details of past events. For that reason, I should blog here with increased regularity so I can have the closest thing to time travel whenever I feel like it.
If I manage to blog with enough consistency - say at least twice a week -, over time, I would have successfully created the closest thing to a timeline of my life. I might not become a celebrity or a popular dude in any way. Yet, I believe it a noble thing to do, to not allow the details of your life die with you. At least, if you don't achieve some of your dreams, with them on a public platform like this, who knows, someday, they might inspire another to actualize them and then, some thanks would be due to yours sincerely; howbeit in your grave. When I die also, I want people who hear about my death but knew nothing about me in life to have something real to consult. More deserves to be said about me than, "Oh, he was such a nice guy". Sometimes, I wish my late dad had a blog. The closest thing to that is a couple of his diaries which are only sparsely filled; certainly not enough to give me even a half complete idea of what kind of person he was.
- COMMUNICATION IS ESSENTIAL
I'm one of those people who tend not to have anything to say. However, nothing is farther from the truth than that. I usually have a lot to say; unfortunately, I do not have that BFF who is at close enough call. So, I need this blog to be that BFF, who would always listen to me, when I'm brimming with exciting talk. Come to think of it, here, I even have the advantage that the blog would never forget any of our gists. Also, I do not have to deal with the negative emotions that might arise from my scaling the response of a person to my gist. People can be cold when they should be warm and such things get to me. I know my blog is always cold, and I'm prepared for that response.
A few years ago, I picked up the hobby of writing, years after abandoning it at secondary school level (English essays). I realized I enjoyed writing and indeed, I used to write a lot those days. However, somewhere along the line, I slowed because I got the idea my writing is not good enough. Now though, thanks to reading other articles online, I'm back with new resolution. "Just write", many of them say. They advised that with practice only can my writing improve; and from experience in other areas of my life, I strongly agree with them. In all sincerity, I've read many blogs, and relatively, I'm confident I'm better than a terrible writer. Good enough for a start, I bet you'll agree with me.
Yes, even though it's a personal blog, I'm not going to write off the possibility of it getting popular. Consistency and commitment often yield good fruits over time. If I apply these principles to my blogging, (of course with some innovation and thought), I believe this site would eventually become a value mine. And value, like money, always gets the attention of other people.
Even though I've been on these lands for two decades, I cannot boast of many cool things I can do satisfactorily. I don't play instruments, neither do I play chess. I cannot play football and despite my height, I also have never played basketball. Many people ask me in conversations, "so, what do you do in your free time". Guess what, I found I'm not that bad at this thing called writing. Hence, I want to be able to give them a link to a blog I'm proud of and shows clear evidence of what my free time goes into.
- DOING IT MAKES ME FEEL VALUABLE/CREATIVE
For me, I believe an article a day would keep the (mental) doctor away. Many nights, I go to bed, half-depressed that I've wasted a full unredeemable day; that perhaps, I'm not good for anything afterall. I hate that feeling. Thanks though, for captain writing is here to the rescue. It's not possible for me to complete an article I really want to write and still feel like I've not been useful that day. Even if that is the only thing I do all day. Because I know the volume of virtue (energy) it takes me to put together any meaningful article.
Reading articles online is one of my favorite pastimes. While doing this, I often come across articles that make me feel like I'm not alone in this world. What a good feeling that is. The thing is, many of us are not trusting enough to share the deepest things that concern us, so we often take advantage of the anonymity the web provides to do just that. I'm always grateful to the creators of such "make-me-feel-among" content, and I want some of those sweet thanks directed at me too. I want to be able to inspire that feeling of belongingness in other people too.
FAQ means "Frequently Asked Question". Here are some of the questions that people have plagued me with in the past few months:
- Why are you keeping your hair?
- What are you doing in our school?
- Why don't you have a girlfriend and it's assumptive variation: How is/are your girlfriend(s)?
The truth is, often times, I have not even answered these questions myself. This leads me to giving inaccurate answers since I'm not so good at thinking on the spot. "Do people really care that much?", you might ask. The truth is I'm not exactly doing this so my answers can be more coherent. In accordance with my belief that there is a reason for everything, I actually want to answer these questions. Answering these questions in writing would help me think through my motivations and situation carefully. Perhaps, I might be pushed to reconsider, and thus, break out of a negative rut.
I greatly value my life's experiences. However, I know they're not useful for anyone else except they are easily accessible. Knowing myself, I know that I'm physically not a very accessible person. I do not want to be one of those people who die with all their experience and ideas. As much as possible, I want my valuable experiences documented; along with all those ideas that never manage to smell even pilot. Certainly, someday, someone would come across these documents and indirectly, I would afford him one mistake less in life. Or better still, some inspiration. It would be an honor to make someone else's life just a little better.
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Cheers to another completed article. I must have been here for over two hours, trying to make this as detailed as possible. Hopefully, none of the reasons in my list duplicates the concept of another. It's great that I did not let laziness cut the list down to five. Took some thought but hey, it paid off after all. I wrote this and no one can take that away from me :-).
Lest I forget, I send a warm hug your way for caring enough to read to the end. Was it an engaging read?
