Why I Even Bother To Write.

I trust my struggle.

Photo by DJ Johnson on Unsplash

Writing is tough. I salute everyone who writes for a living. It requires a monumental effort to extract that little idea in our heads and give birth to them in visible form. This effort goes beyond the use of alphabets, sentences, paragraphs, and expressions. Beyond that, coherence matters.

I struggled a lot in school when it comes to languages. In Singapore, we had to slog through the first 10 years of our education learning 2 languages. The first one is the national working language, and that is English. The second one is our Mother Tongue, which is Chinese for me.

Needless to say, some of us excelled in both. A vast majority is better at one than the other. And there are black sheep who struggle with both.

Yup. I struggle with both.

I grew up knowing full well that communication is a top skill, which my Aunt has repeatedly drummed into me. As fate would have it, knowing that it is important is different from delivering the goods. I am glad my teachers understood what I wrote. At least, I get to pass my examinations and move on with life.

But I struggle. I have to pay the price in 2 aspects of our daily lives.

For one, it is unavoidable. Not one day goes by without us actually writing some alphabets. Next, it is a weapon of influence. A well-written email can determine the size of the department budget for the year ahead.

Not one day goes past without the need to communicate. This is like the path leading to the toilet. I have to pee and poo. I have to walk there. Put a toll station there for toilet tax, and it becomes an inevitable expense.

I wonder if I am the only one who has this struggle with writing from time to time. I struggle with coherence. I did not forget eloquence.

Eloquence in writing comes in the form of vocabulary. If you have a giant vocabulary bank, then that is great! Simple becomes straightforward, easy, uncomplicated, painless, effortless, or any words you can think of as you type.

You bestow the same meaning through different words because different contextual needs demand the need to diction appropriately.