Returning to Why I Write for Myself

Writing for myself is something I’ve been trying to prioritize this week.

While working on my thesis, I’ve gotten this sudden impulse to document or just be prepared to keep track of everything happening this last quarter. I had this spur moment in Grand Central Station last week while in New York. I walked into the Moleskine store and got a notebook, and almost immediately decided I was going to journal for the rest of this spring quarter. I knew that especially at this significant turning point in my life, I do not want to leave all these sporadic thoughts or memories by the wayside. I should really give myself the chance to at least sit with all the various feelings and thoughts ruminating at this time.

For the last three and a half years, I did not do much of a good job really reflecting in a deeply personal way and documenting such reflections. I have given myself the time to write weekly here, but it’s different. You will write differently with an audience versus when you know there’s a near zero chance no one else will read your writing. It’s almost the same attitude I have with respect to considering how I am thinking about my thesis. I have to write in the context of the audience I want to have for the project, not simply just for myself. The journal format at least gives me the reassurance that I am really just writing for myself, no matter how…