The Words I Write Fill My Life with Meaning
Words have always been central to my life.
The things I think,
turn into the words I write,
into the words I say,
and into the words I sing…
words, words, everywhere, words.
Giving all the things I do, meaning, context & purpose.
As I said in my first post, I estimate I have spent over 13,500 hours of my life journaling.
That’s wild to me. I started to think, “How many words have I written in my various journals?” I decided to try and calculate it.
After working through the numbers, I concluded that I’ve written approximately 10,000,000 words over the last 24 years. 10 MILLION! Again, WILD!
Here’s my rough calculation:
It’s 60,000 words a journal
X 3 journals a year
= 180,000 words
X 24 years
= 4,320,000 words in journals.
Where do the rest come from?
I have kept elaborate dream journals on & off throughout the years.
I keep personal notes… all the random ideas that come into my mind throughout the day; I write them down on scraps of paper, the ones I keep for later, thinking I’ll use them for thought & reflection, perhaps to add them to my journal for comment & commentary… any idea, big & small, regardless of size. Some are transcribed into the journals & some are not, but everything makes it into my manilla folders… all marked neatly with the year in question, 2020, 2019, 2018, etc., dating back to 1996…
Then there are all of the professional notebooks I have kept for work. I have been in marketing for much of my career, part of which is a creative endeavor, and it has led to me creating my own notebooks with blank, white copy paper and binding them together, for easy note taking, ideation and drawing.
Lots of drawings… And lots of personal notes, about the people I have met, the topics being discussed, the way people say things, how they lead teams, the dynamics in the room, the politics, the body language… like an anthropologist on a field study.
And, given that I am a songwriter, I have notebooks filled with song ideas, band ideas and of course, lots of lyrics… which of course is what? more words.
The unintended consequence of all of this, is that over time, I’ve gotten really good at writing things down… in very creative ways.
I’ve actually become an exceptional notetaker. In fact, throughout my career, I’ve been invited to high-level, strategic planning meetings because I have a reputation for being such a good notetaker and meeting observer.
All of these experiences have not only helped me understand & express my own creativity, but it has allowed me to help others express their own creativity as well. It’s amazing how your perspective changes, when you slow, pay attention to take the time to really write down your thoughts and ideas:
· It changes the way you look at world around you.
· It improves your powers of observation & really pay attention to the details.
· It enhances your ability to listen.
· It gives you the space to articulate ideas more clearly.
· It significantly improves your creativity and storytelling.
· It gives you time for self-reflection.
And now the ideas come a lot easier because I do all of this with such frequency, it all seems natural.
Gaining all of these life experiences through words.
Words, words, everywhere words.
10,000,000 of my own words helping me find real meaning in my life.