The need to document one’s thoughts is a primal desire of any conscious being.

Writing has served us through the ages to document our history, disseminate information and share accounts, stories and ideas.

But most importantly, writing remains one of the truest forms of self-expression.

In the past year, I discovered a personal desire to share my thoughts and opinions with the community I live in, so I decided to take up my current position as a columnist, despite my lack of practice with creative writing.

My experiences over the past semester have not only helped me become a better writer and meet my goals of sharing information, but along the way, I also discovered the unique pleasures and personal benefits of writing.

I am of the view that writing as a form of self-expression has universal benefits for everyone who attempts it, regardless of the medium.

Growing up as non-native English speaker, I have had my fair share of struggles with mastering the language. And even though my command over English has improved over the years, a constant obstacle in the language-learning process has been an ability to translate thoughts into words.

In writing, the primary challenge is taking an idea which exists in the mind in the vaguest of forms and transforming it into a concrete expression through words. Herein also lies the greatest personal advantage of writing. Once the bridge from thoughts to alphabets has been crossed, the idea that seemed out of shape only moments ago slowly starts to take a clearer, more permanent form.

By writing your thoughts and ideas down, not only do you ensure their longevity, but those ideas are also better imprinted in your mind for future access. This aspect of writing is crucial because it helps us be more in tune with our own thoughts and ideas.

Furthermore, it seems to me that the more you write, the more insight you gain into your thinking process. So whether you’re transferring a personal dilemma into a journal or hoping to express a complex idea in an essay, the self-expression involved has the added benefit of self-insight.

And as writing brings you closer to the chambers of your mind, over time the lucidity and structure that you employ on paper is reflected in your head. This allows you to communicate and express yourself more easily.

The passage of time also gives rise to another curious personal benefit of writing.

I was recently looking over a couple of essays I had written for class during my freshman year, and I was shocked to see the sea of differences between those pieces and something I had come up with recently. Not only has the language and style of writing changed, but also the structure and presentation of arguments and ideas.

It was almost as if those essays had been written by a different person.

It has occurred to me since, that just like pictures help us capture important moments in life, writing helps us capture our frame of mind in a certain moment of time. As time fades, we can, without resources, remember details and events from the past, but it is hard to pin-point the changes in character and thinking that accompanies age.

Studies show that critical parts of the brain involved with decision-making are not fully developed until 25 years of age, meaning that if you don’t write, this might be the best time to start. That is because writing regularly could provide an avenue to track one’s personal growth and a platform for beneficial introspection. This realization has seriously encouraged me to keep a personal journal or a blog in the future, and I hope other people are inspired to do the same.

Lastly, writing, despite its challenges, carries with it the joy of creating something from nothing. And that is a joy anyone with a pen and paper can experience.

Most importantly, though, writing as form of self-expression is an agent to open novel gateways in your mind, to be more in sync with your thoughts and better understand your own ideas.

Shivam is a senior in Engineering. He can be reached at [email protected].