I love reading. For someone who just loves knowing, even if it means knowing random gossips from some random tea stalls, reading has been my best and ultimate resort in my never-ending thirst for knowledge.

So, the first wave of corona lockdown, I spent most of my time reading, even to the point of my parents complaining (and worrying) about my book munching.

Apart from the surge of dopamine that comes with knowing and understanding (or probably just illusion of that!), reading also became my closest alternative to mediation, as I was able to finally enjoy being on the moment in one thing after I don’t know how long in my life.

But then as I tried my hand at writing, I experienced an even different world. Then as the second wave of corona arrived — almost like a time rewind — I spent most of the second lockdown in writing. Now that I have experienced a few profound effects due to writing, I will try my best to convince you why you should write, especially if you read regularly. 

1. Writing crystallizes your thoughts and knowledge: Reading, along with giving so much knowledge, also gives us the illusion of clearly knowing something. It’s only when you sit down and start writing you realize the gaps in your knowledge, and realize how murkier your understanding of a topic is. As you sit down and think, and probably read and research further try to find the missing dots and write, that’s when your understanding of a topic becomes clear, concise, and coherent, which ultimately becomes your thoughts and knowledge. 
2. Writing turns you into a teacher: This applies especially if you are writing on a public platform like Medium, and I will explain why with my own experience. Compared to how I write on my personal blog, writing on medium switches that teacher mode in me, where I constantly take into account if I am explaining well enough or not, most of the time imagining my own student self as a reader. 
3. Writing makes you a better Storyteller: Most of us love telling stories. I for sure love it, maybe as much as ice cream or even more. But the problem with telling stories from thoughts that are randomly scattered in your head is that it can lack that preparedness and coherence that we find in exciting stories. But if you have written about a story already, you can worry less about remembering the bits and pieces and focus more on the narrative, because guess what, the packets get delivered, un-sniffed, just like Gilfoyle explains in that epic “What do you do!” Silicon Valley scene.
4. Writing serves as your permanent hard drive: Okay, this one is obvious. But “obvious” doesn’t make it less true, though. Unless you plan to reread a book every time you want to remember a concept from it, start writing about what you read. 
5. Writing saves a piece of your forever: One day or another, we will all be gone. So will our thoughts and stories stored in our heads. What will stay though, is the pieces of us that we leave in our writing. That’s why also it motivates me to leave a piece of me every time I write, even if it means using words like “obviously!” excessively even in serious articles about Science. Just to save a piece of me forever. That hoping WordPress will save our pieces on here forever, obviously! (Please WordPress!)