Finding My Voice Again

The reason I want to start writing again is not the same reason I needed to write in 2017, I think. It’s January 20, 2020 and I’m 24 years old. The last blog post I made was in 2017, and I was 21.

I envy that I seemed to have a stronger opinion on things back then, and the confidence to state them with the same unwavering firmness. Is it because I’m now more ignorant at 24 than I was at 21? Doesn’t seem right. Or maybe I was overly zealous before as a young adult, like anyone who discovers something new — only for it to level off later.

Anyway, I’m not here to write the best articles or become wiser, even though it will be a byproduct of this if I can commit to it regularly. It won’t be for others to read or for my casual enjoyment. What I want to do is to deliberately focus on ingesting information and formulating opinions on them. I’ve felt, for a year or so, that when I notice my own ignorance or apathy it’s followed by a shameful second of reflection but no plan of action- so this is my plan of action. I just haven’t felt strongly about anything in a while. I often hear others speak intelligently about social issues, politics, history, music, art, books and convey their own opinions about that topic with confidence. I lack the confidence because I don’t know about those topics and even if I sort of do, I’d be faking it if I expressed anything other than passive agreement or a nervous “yeah…”.

My plan is to tackle two things.

1) read about a topic of my choosing

2) reflect on it with my own, honest opinions (the more the better).

The outcomes I’m hoping for are one, to not only read more, but to build my knowledge and confidence by writing and absorbing stimulating content. I will then practice expressing my own opinions, derived only from what I am honestly feeling from the content I’m absorbing and not swayed from the pressure of having to agree with other people. With time, I want to improve my ability to formulate thought-provoking opinions I can be proud to own and share. This will hopefully lead to a me that has a stronger voice — and is confident, passionate and compassionate.

Related posts:

Watched The Social Dilemma yesterday and it somehow didn’t deliver the shock value that it did to many of my friends. Ironically, we discussed the show on WhatsApp. :) Perhaps my proximity to…