NMCJ - 1: Why I chose to write a newsletter
What's the point?
Hey there!
Welcome to my very first newsletter!
When I was thinking of embarking on this journey of writing a newsletter every week, I often asked myself, “why?”. I would keep on asking myself that and other questions followed:
“Don’t you already have enough going on?“
“What could you possibly have to share that others would find interesting?”
“Do you really want to put yourself out there?”
“How do you even know you’re good at writing?”
The list went on and on!
So, I thought it might be a good idea to kick this ride off with the ‘WHY???’
Well, here goes……….
Writing is a cathartic release
Throughout my life, I have found writing to be the ideal way to release pent up emotions. It brings clarity to my thoughts. It’s meditative and allows me to spill out my stream of consciousness. To me, it's almost like coming face to face with whatever is going on inside me. Once it's all out, I usually take a deep breath, step back and realize it'll all work out in the end :).
We all have days when we’re overwhelmed and feel like there’s too much to cope with. Writing has been a friend I’ve been able to count on whenever I’ve needed one.
Keeping a weekly newsletter routine will help me stay grounded, self-aware and mentally clear. I hope you'll all support me on this path.
It’s fun!
I’ve already gone over how writing helps me stay grounded and self-aware. On top of that, I just find it fun. I find it fun to challenge myself and reflect on my experiences, going over the pleasant and the not so pleasant ones in the process.
I enjoy going over where I was and where I’ve ended up. There are lot’s moments which I found earth shattering at the time but, now, when I reflect on them, I just chuckle when I realize how wrong I was to attach so much significance to events that didn’t turn out calamitous after all :p.
Writing reminds me not to take myself too seriously :).
Not everyone has it all figured out
Throughout my life, I’ve been told to attach a high level of importance to finding that one path to the promised land. I guess our society, at large, values that quality of being laser focused and pursuing our dreams. Some call it ‘true calling’. Some call it ‘purpose’. I don’t know what to call it or the appropriate term for it.
My ‘meandering’ journey, as the name of the newsletter suggests, hasn’t been focused to be honest. I’ve had aspirations, goals and ambitions but reality has often thrown me off course. A bad interview here, a lay-off there and various other occurrences meant that I often had to change tracks and then, perhaps get onto another one.
Like me, I’m sure there are many who’ve had to question the idea of focus and sticking to one ‘true calling’. I’d like to express my solidarity with you all through this newsletter :). For those who have the gift of focus, I hope you find my content interesting still.
It’ll be useful, hopefully!
The idea is to share learnings from my journey. As mentioned earlier, it’s been far from a linear trajectory. I haven’t achieved a huge deal and I don’t consider myself brilliant. However, I could be doing worse for sure.
The idea is to share whatever I’ve learned and, perhaps, add an additional perspective on to stuff. What I’ve learned may be specific to the experiences I’ve had but I hope you’ll walk away with the feeling of having read something interesting and/or useful. If you find something, in particular that you’d like to me to deep-dive into, please make a suggestion in the comments section below.
Developing a community
In the event that you guys like what I start to churn out, I hope to grow a subscriber base. Once that starts to happen, It’ll be fun to have online get togethers or, well, even in person from time to time, if possible. I envisage a space where we all can share our experiences and, well, just have a laugh together. How this will eventually pan out is, well, a bit too early to say but I definitely hope that we all can develop a space where I can engage with you all.
Learn new tools
Along the way, as I start to write regularly, I hope to find a routine as well as a process. With that, I hope to learn new tools that’ll help me along the way. I really enjoy learning new ways of, well, writing or creating content. I’m used to working in professional spaces where I’ve had to stick to particular packages, depending on company policy, etc.
This newsletter will provide me with the opportunity to explore a bit more and make my content richer, hopefully (*fingers crossed). I haven’t pinned it all down and it will be an iterative process. Your feedback along the way would be much appreciated.
Self-expression
I’ve often found it difficult to express myself in words. Whenever I’m in a discussion or a debate (especially an intense one), I struggle to find the right words to express myself. In the heat of the moment, things often get misconstrued.
Writing helps me focus on my thoughts without the stress and pressure of a ticking clock. The best part about this process is that I can get lost in my imagination by customising the tone, choice of words and narrate my story at my own pace.
This newsletter, thus, will be an exercise in self-expression. I hope you’ll find it worthwhile :).
It will push me
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."-Benjamin Franklin
Writing engaging content is a challenge. I have, over the years, written stuff that I’ve kept to myself for the most part. A commitment to writing a weekly newsletter will be a challenge that will push me to get out of my comfort zone and think, not just about the content itself, but how it could be made interesting for you all.
It will be a regular exercise that will push me to iterate along the way. Your feedback will, throughout this ride, will be much appreciated!
My input/output ratio
I love the idea of having a personal input/output ratio. It doesn’t need to be a quantifiable one :p. The concept is that we all consume a lot i.e. through our experiences, books, content, trainings, etc. That, would be ‘input’ in this case.
‘Output’ would, in this context, be what you let out and I find it therapeutic on some level. It’s the feeling I get when, for instance, I’ve listened to a history podcast and am able to share some of my learnings during a discussion with a friend that same evening.
We all have something of value to share, especially our failures, confusions, and the micro steps on the journey. On this ride, I intend to make that ‘something’ my ‘output’ :).
It’ll give me a goal
Developing a writing habit and aiming to send it out on a weekly basis will set regular goals for me. Setting a goal usually lets me focus on next steps and helps progress in the direction that I have chosen. Thus, setting regular writing goals will allow me to measure my progress towards an end-point to compare with.
Achieving goals, furthermore, provides me with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. The motivation to have this feeling is what will keep me going. It’s like a flywheel essentially. Goals lead to motivation which, in turn, leads to those goals being fulfilled which leads to the desire to move faster to set new goals.
Goals also make the road easier, especially small ones. Setting high goals (like writing a 100K word book) can seem unattainable and time-consuming. But splitting complex goals into smaller ones no longer seems so unattainable, and it is clear what action needs to be taken first. Whether I’ll eventually write a book, I’m not sure but this newsletter will keep me focused on those ‘small’ attainable goals. By meeting small goals every day, bigger ones will be achieved, too.
“I am always more interested in what I am about to do than what I have already done.” -Rachel Carson
As I’ve mentioned several times already, I hope you’ll enjoy what I write and find it worthwhile. Thanks for going through my very first newsletter :D!
Looking forward to reading your newsletter!
Your writing is so open and honest; I admire your reasoning structure; it all makes perfect sense; and I applaud your bravery in putting your ideas out into the world. For me also, writing is a form of self-expression; I don't see myself as an expert in any field; rather, I find that the experience of living life to be a constant wellspring of ideas. Keep it up :D!