Why Being Honest is the Best Way to Write
We often tend to push down our feelings in front of others, trying to “keep face” in front of the society we are in. This has become like second nature to almost all of us since we shy away and try to show that we are strong people.
This is especially true for men. As men, we have been conditioned to believe that a man too honest with his feelings will be not be a real man anymore.
Yet, honesty in general is considered a quality. So why is it not so with our feelings? The reason is that we believe the image we give others is the real us, even if it means hiding things to them.
In order to write online on a daily basis, I have had to come up with a new topic or angle every single day. This is not easy and I sometimes need to strain myself to find what matters, what could be of interest, etc.
A few weeks back, I started scheduling topics in advance. While this simplifies the action of sitting down and start writing, this also has a downside.
The original feeling attached to the topic is almost always gone by the time I start. While I can remind myself of it thanks to some notes, the passion felt for the topic when I had just found it.
This is why I am especially happy when a sudden thought arises in my head and I can disrupt my schedule with a post full of the feelings felt at that moment.
This was the case with my post yesterday about Taking Shortcuts, and it was also the case for my article about having my blog as some sort of public diary.
Furthermore, I believe that, whenever it is the case, through the way the article is written, people can feel the honesty and heart poured into the article. After posting that one about the blog being a public diary, I had a one-day “peak” of viewership and likes on my blog (not that it was a lot for most bloggers, but still more than usual for me).
There is a word in Japanese that I cannot find exactly in English, with the same nuance. It is read “Sunao” (素直) and means being honest in its purest sense, putting one’s heart out.
No matter what you write about, even staying honest, nothing can be more honest that something that just overwhelmed you enough to motivate you to disturb what you had planned.
Honesty is scary. There is nothing to contradict this. However, the moment you make your peace with your insecurities and admit not only to yourself but also to the world that you are scared, you then break the shackles that hold you. You can discover a new You, full of opportunities, and realize that there was nothing to be scared all along.
