Why is writing so hard?

Oscar Fco Garcia Oviedo

Apr 13, 2023 — 3 min read

It's starting to feel like writing is a little bit more difficult each day, but why is that?

I remember in my teenage days some of my friends used to do writing. Some did poems, some used to write songs, some used to enjoy when a teacher asked an essay as home work; but by any means there was at least one person I knew that liked to write and I swear, reaching my early 30's, there's not a single person I know that does it anymore.

Well, I have a theory... Because I suffer of it at the moment.

The more I think about it, the more I feel like my brain is saturated. Full of lyrics from songs I like, of emails I have to write today, of advertisements I read on my way home, of books I want to read, of subtitles from the series I watch on TV, of descriptions from the articles I want to buy from some website... You get it, right? Whether you like it or not, our brains keep this information handy. Why? Because you've just seen it and now you got to process it. And then, what if you need it? Some day, maybe? Better keep it close. Do you dump it? No. At least, I don't. I don't even know for real if it's possible to have a brain detox, but it sounds like something that should exist. Someone please delete my cache, I got too much.

On the other hand, I now get paid for writing. Boring emails, that is, but, hey, always look at the bright side. It comes at a cost, though. For a lack of a better definition I'll call them "corporate emails"... In case you are weird and don't know this, um, people fucking hate emails. With a passion. Turns out corporate emails are the worst kind of emails, so you have to keep it short and sweet, straight to the point, and stop wasting everybody else's time. Oh, and by the way, since you also hate them, reading and writing them, you'll use as little brain processing power as possible and use the same words over and over again 'cause it works and everybody gets it. No need to reinvent the wheel. Also, people gets confused if you use a word they don't see often and one must avoid confusing people at work at all cost because it creates more emails. At work, more is less. Always.

And God forgive you if you have energy to do something after work. On the other hand, if you push through and go to the gym, you now have possibly more energy but less time. You have to pick one.

And that's how you end up not writing. Most of what we get into our brains is useless and doesn't inspire us, then we get used to the same words and they become our comfort zone; if you avoid those two, chances are you don't have the energy and/or maybe don't even have time to do some writing.

My recommendation?

Get yourself a blog. Or a journal app. But make an effort and write something in it. Use words you normally wouldn't use and write about stuff you care but people may not know. About your vacations and your skiing. About that time you went to Mexico with family or to Europe for a month. And feel free to use whatever layout you want. Maybe a long paragraph, maybe two. One short sentence here and there. Go crazy.