Why I started writing

I spent 8 years being an engineer.

Then, 2.5 years ago, I made a decision.

I wasn’t going to do that anymore.

Big leap, huh?

Well, not really.

Let’s wind back the clock…

The transformation.

I was driving back to SC from WV (8-hour drive) after my Dad’s funeral.

Somewhere around VA, listening to Tim O’Brien’s “Brother Wind” on repeat for 3 hours, I started playing back the events of the last week in my mind.

And in that moment of clarity, I realized that the trajectory I was on wasn’t the one I wanted to be on.

Why?

Let’s count it down:

1. The engineering work was wearing on me. Not energy-giving. It was energy-sucking. And…

2. Everyone else that I knew 10-20 years ahead of me on that track was miserable and away from their family a lot. Given that…

3. My Dad was only 20 years older than me at the time he died. If my lifespan was going to be similar, I had to maximize every minute. And there was a lot to maximize…

4. My son was 2 months from being born. I had missed a lot of my daughter’s baby-toddler years because I was in college and then starting a career.

5. I hadn’t really picked my career trajectory. It was a series of happenstance and just trying to survive.

In that moment, running it all down, something became clear.

I wanted to be intentional.

Life was too short.

There was a set amount of time left for me on earth…

And I wasn’t going to let it go by without at least figuring out what I REALLY wanted to do, deep down.

How was I going to do this?

Well, as it turned out, writing.

Why writing?

I knew that I first had to figure out what was important to me.

And keeping track in my mind wasn’t going to cut it.

Concurrent with that thought was something that had been nagging at me in the back of mind for a while too: “All of my heroes are writers.”

I’d pushed the thought off for a while. “I’m not a writer; I’m an engineer.” Even though, I have always been a huge reader and had journaled a lot as a kid.

But in that moment, those 2 lines converged:

1. I had to figure out what was important to me.

2. Everyone I admired journaled and published their writing.

So, I started writing down thoughts in my Apple Notes as they came.

Here was the first one:

“I like things that are simple. And timeless.”

That’s it. The first step on this writing journey. It wasn’t much, but it got the spigot flowing. Just writing down things that I liked and believed.

And I’ve written every day since.

This led me to Medium, Tim Denning, and then to X. On X I discovered a whole ecosystem of people like me: driven writers who were trying to figure every thing out.

Now, I have an online business, a steadily growing audience, and an email list that includes some of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met.

The bottom line.

You should start writing.

Today.

Just one thought.

That's all it takes to begin.

You literally having nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Get after it.

Cheers,

Swanagan

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