The mind is an endless factory of ideas that like water, must find a way to flow on up to the surface. If harbored too long inside without an outlet, these musings can lead to overwhelm. The way to save ourselves from this overwhelm is through self-expression. To open the windows to our souls. One way to do this is through writing. Old school magic as Alan Moore puts it. This magic called writing is primarily an exercise in bringing order to chaos, as Doctor Jordan B. Peterson would say. The chaos that exists within and outside ourselves. And to do this, we must manage our distractions, both internal and external, so that we may make use of the gift of self-expression. Let us first address internal distractions.
Internal Distractions
In my estimation, internal distractions are mainly comprised of thoughts, feelings, moods, and emotions. Which, ironically, are to a large degree, the basis for writing itself. Our thoughts are likely to be scattered, we may be feeling depressed or anxious, something may be preoccupying us psychically that in turn prevent us from expressing ourselves. We want to get it out quickly and efficiently. But therein lies the first error in our thinking about writing. Writing is a practice in organizing these preoccupations, not an activity that is done effortlessly, like say brushing our teeth.
It takes time to focus and to meditate on what we are trying to express in a way that thinking alone cannot achieve. Since it takes so much effort, the mind will tend to wander or to run away from the work it takes. But there lies the challenge and the reward, and it is quite rewarding to assemble the puzzle that is within ourselves. A story, a poem, an essay within us that wants to get out into the real world are but a pen stroke away. And these works could be the solution to some problem that we may have stowed away in some compartment of our minds.
Therefore, the solution isn’t running away from or trying to cancel out internal distractions like overthinking, but to let them reign free, not in the mind, but on the page. To bring out what is harbored within our psyche and bring it to life in an organized fashion. It is to refine ourselves verbally until we can express ourselves creatively, analytically, persuasively, or whatever the case may be, clearly. Whether it is to communicate something to someone else or to ourselves.
External Distractions
As for external distractions, everything that our sensory capabilities can perceive, is of great use to us for it is quite literally food for thought. Anything that we can see, hear, touch, taste, or see is data that we can process to express something new to us. The external distractions I refer to, however, stem from digital technologies. I must preface this by saying that it is highly beneficial that we live in a world that allows us access to a plethora of information at our fingertips, that permit us not only to educate ourselves, but also seek entertainment. Ironically, as many of us know, it is also to our extreme detriment, because we can infinitely zone out from reality by the use of these technologies. Now, more than ever, we have the capability to be endless consumers of information, and to even outsource our own thinking and creative abilities. This definitely sets the foundation for a dangerous future, but that is a topic for a later discussion.
It is however paramount that we assume personal responsibility for the amount of information that we consume through digital means, because it consumes too much of our time and its overpowering stimuli is too much for us to process in a healthy manner. Personally, I find Meta’s Instagram to be the most distracting to my daily productivity goals. The combination of a tiny portable computer and an app that supplies endless visually stimulating moving images at warp speed, overtakes my attention. And it is something I must wrestle with. Sensory overstimulation due to “advancements” in telecommunications overtake our time and attention to devote ourselves to say more “humanly” activities such as creative self-expression.
That is not to say that such technologies do not aid in these endeavors, the evidence for this is overwhelming, but only if we spend more of our time producing rather than consuming. Alas, it is up to each of us to identify our external distractors whether digital or otherwise and put them in their proper place by exercising agency over our will and priorities. And that is why I believe it is so important for us to write what we think, what we believe, and what we hope, so that we do not lose our humanity to the screen. Not to mention it is quite fun to plan and live our own adventures, instead of living 95% of our lives vicariously.
Writing is freedom and satisfaction, and it is in our own best interest to relish in the fact that we can do it by our own hand, through our own creativity, research, and experience. What we write may remain long after the dust from our bones are gone, to paraphrase Hector, prince of Troy. And that is legacy, worth more than gold and trivialities. That the stories we leave behind may be inherited by our sons and daughters as they forge their own.
