Writing again

I used to write a lot when I was younger. In high school, I was the insufferable kid who would always correct his friends' grammar and word choice. I aced all my journalism classes while majoring in Communications in college, even though it was clear to me I wasn't going to pursue that career path.

I remember finding joy in writing. In articulating complex ideas in long documents, looking for the perfect words for every sentence. Ten years later, I'm barely writing my own thoughts. I feel like I archived a valuable part of me in an old, dusty drawer in my bedroom at my parents' house back in Lima. But what happened?

I guess I could blame it on my first seven years of work. My first internship had me writing emails about the most boring, corporate legal guidelines. And then I made the jump to branding, ad campaigns, social media. It fried a few wires, and suddenly essays shrank to 140 characters and seven-word video hooks. No wonder I was burned out on my last marketing job and my content creator phase.

I could also make the excuse that I don't feel comfortable writing in English, which is completely true, by the way. I have no doubts that my writing skills in Spanish are far superior, and I still struggle to find the right words sometimes. That's a story worth its own entry. But I don't really care now.

Naturally, I have tried to get back into writing multiple times in the last three years, with no real success. The problem is now clear to me: I was writing with a goal and audience in mind. Not for the sake of writing, but with the Publish button waiting patiently at the end of the document.

I've convinced myself that I don't care if anybody reads this. I just want to get back to it. To writing again.