I am someone who gets overwhelmed easily. that happens when i spend my whole day talking to people, scrolling through content, absorbing everyone else's thoughts, and then lying in bed at night with a head full of noise that doesn't belong to me. I overthink. I overanalyze.
For a long time, I didn't have a way out of that feeling. I just waited for it to pass. It always did but it always came back.
How I started
About nine months ago, when i was at university, I watched a YouTube video about journaling. I don't remember which one. I don't remember the exact day. What I remember is that I opened my notebook which i write bible studies on and just started writing about my day how I spent it, what I felt, what happened.
I fell in love with writing that day. because it cured something in me that nothing else seemed to touch the stress, the overwhelm, the constant background hum of anxiety. When I wrote, it went quiet.
The people who showed me the way
I didn't invent this idea on my own. I was inspired by people who wrote openly and honestly about their lives and thinking. Ali Abdaal talked about writing as a way of thinking out loud. And then there was Dagmawi Babi's blog something about the way he wrote made me feel like I could do it too. That encouraged me to start something of my own.
The fears that almost stopped me
When I thought about writing publicly, my brain had a lot to say about that. Here is the honest list of everything that stood between me and my first blog.
- Why would anyone read my thoughts?
- What will I write? everything has already been said by others.
- What will my family and friends think?
- What if my article is bad?
- What if my grammar is wrong?
Every single one of those fears felt completely real. Some days they still do. But the thing that finally moved me was a shift in perspective I stopped writing for an audience and started writing for myself. And once I did that, I realized something nobody is watching as closely as i think they are. Everyone is too busy living their own life to spend time judging yours.
The first real step came when I started a Telegram channel April 24, 2025. I had found tech communities where people documented their journeys openly, and it inspired me. So I started posting my random thoughts, ideas, memes things from inside my head. The channel was private at first. Then one day, for a reason I dont know I made it public. Some friends congratulated me. Some encouraged me. It was nothing like what I feared. It was the opposite.
What writing actually does for me
- It processes my thoughts. When something is bothering me, writing about it transforms it. I understand it better after writing than I did before.
- It makes me self-aware. I can identify what I'm feeling and why.
- It builds focus. Writing requires you to follow one thought to its end.
- It documents my life. I can look back and see who I was, what I felt, what I was figuring out.
- It helps professionally. Writing publicly, even in small ways, teaches you how to communicate ideas, build a voice, and show up consistently.
The tools I use
My first choice has always been a notebook and pen. Less distracting than any device. On my PC I use Notion all blog posts start there before they go anywhere else. I used Day One on my phone to capture moments with photos, and looking back at old entries is something else. even though I barely open it now. And then there is my Telegram channel my go to for posting my random thoughts and good for documenting my journey.
My journaling has never been consistent. There are weeks even months where I don't write a single word. The path is not a straight line. But I always come back, because I always feel the difference when I don't write. That absence is its own kind of answer.