A Return to Writing
One of the things that I have enjoyed about taking my first Lenten journey this year is rediscovering my love of writing.
My desire to write flows from taking time each day to contemplate, read, and study. Before Lent, I had filled every free moment with mindless distractions and entertainments, so I had almost no desire to write.
But now I feel almost compelled to write. Not only to record and share what I'm thinking and learning, but as an exercise that helps crystallize and organize those thoughts. It's similar to “thinking out loud” when you're talking through something with another person, except this is thinking on paper? Thinking in text?
This blog is an excellent outlet for my writing, but I have also taken up keeping a personal journal again, too. This past Sunday I re-subscribed to Day One and wrote an actual journal entry for the first time in almost two years.
And I reactivated my IFTTT applet that automatically adds posts from this blog as journal entries in my Day One journal, so everything I write here is captured for posterity.
I'm hoping I can keep the distractions in check permanently this time. Although they require time and intention, I have found writing, reading, contemplation, and other such activities to be illuminating and more fulfilling than playing a video game or mindlessly scrolling social media.