I have been writing for a decade now and during this journey, I have tried almost all forms of writing. Be it journalism, blogging, poetry or ghostwriting, you name it and I have done it all.

I am not saying I am proud of it, just satisfied that I have explored every option out there. Having said that, I am now in a position to make an informed decision as to what form of writing suits me. Although I could have continued writing in a random manner but I seriously wanted my writing skills to give a meaning to my life.

Writing for me has always been a medium to express my thoughts. Although journalism or ghostwriting was great, I cherish writing for myself and for my tiny niche audience who reads my content. This form of writing satisfies my soul while being creative at the same time.

It feels great when people appreciate my work.

I don’t write for the sake of writing. I write when my heart desires to. This also means sometimes I don’t write for days and I am perfectly fine with it. I am not competing with anyone.

In simple terms, I use my writing to feed my soul, here’s how.

I write when I want to

I know there are many people who say you should write every day.

But do you really want to?

You don’t have to write every day if you don’t want to. Because if you force yourself, it will reflect in your work. There are many people who do this for a living and I completely get that. I have nothing against them, they are who they are.

I am not.

I cannot force myself to write content every day.

Writing should not be a soul-crushing habit.

Write when you feel like it. You like writing every day go ahead.

Personally, I don’t even maintain a habit. There are times when I just don’t feel like writing at all. Whereas, sometimes I can write for days without any break. I don’t care.

Read content regularly

Reading books have always inspired me, it also keeps me sane. To be more specific, I have always loved reading stories. As a child, my reading content were all about comics and different cartoon characters. Even now I love cartoons and their fictional stories, but I also love how people use these storytelling abilities to make a living. I also read about real-life personalities who have literally transformed themselves to achieve great success.

Reading helps me exercise my curiosity and extend my imagination. When reading a fictional story, I can interpret a character the way I want. Reading gives me power to create my own separate world. It also nurtures the writer inside me, helps me learn more from every story/writer.

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With the advancement of the internet, reading has now become as simple as a click of a button.

If you are a writer there’s always something to read, a book or an article on the internet. Go spend that time exercising your thoughts. Reading regularly helps nurture the writer in you.

Incorporate some form of physical exercise

A modern writer seldom spends time outside.

I know because I am guilty of it. A couple of years back, doctors suggested vitamin D supplements as vitamin levels were very low in my body. I was hardly ever in the sun or breathing fresh air. I was spending most of the day either inside a building or inside a car.

I had a horrible routine and above all, I started feeling depressed and exhausted. I was not doing any physical activity and yet I felt tired all the time. As it turns out I was doing everything wrong. It was time to fix my mental and physical health.

Instead of binge-watching Youtube or Netflix, I went for gym sessions and mindless walks. You may not immediately realize this but exercise makes the body release chemicals that helps your brain feel good. Studies have actually proved that physical exercise actually helps you recover mentally.

I know we all assume we are super busy every day and have virtually no time for any physical activities. But do you realize that in the long term you are losing out a lot? Taking out an hour every day to maintain your health is the least we can do.

I just made a few changes in my daily routine which helped me feel relaxed. Just enough to help me grow as a human and help me in my activities.

Writing as a side hustle instead of full time

Honestly, I am not a full-time writer, I work as a software developer in a 9-5 job. My job is not that great but I can live with it. I get to do whatever I want in my spare time without worrying about paying my bills. This job also removes any kind of pressure from my writings. I don’t worry about how my stories are performing or why people are not reading my articles.

I do the best I can do: writing good content and resonating with my readers. I believe everything else will eventually fall into place.

The fact that my writings are not paying my bills, I can write and experiment with anything I want. I use my writings to nurture my soul and creativity. I express what I really feel. This was not the case when I used to freelance for others. I was always under pressure and my writings were awful.

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As writers, we have the gift of creativity but not everyone uses it for themselves. We are always writing for others, always rushing for that deadline. Pushing out irrelevant content every hour. Take a moment and think, do you want this kind of life for yourself? Take out time to think about what you love and if possible, try to incorporate that in your writing.

Make yourself a priority before everything else and you should not feel sorry for that. You need to nurture your soul, your inner desires. How else you will thrive?