I love writing. I really do. But for some reason, when I have to write about a topic unfamiliar to me or as part of an assignment that I will be appraised on, I get stressed about it. Perhaps because of how I have been labelled as a good writer, the expectations get a little too much at times.

I just finished writing my very first article at my new workplace. It was not even that difficult, just on an event that we have recently participated in, but for some reason I mulled over it a lot and it consumed a lot of my brain cells thinking not about the content but about how people would perceive my writing. And when I was finally done with it last night (or early this morning, rather), I felt so relieved that I had to reward myself with something: more writing.

Contrary to popular belief, I find writing difficult. It takes a lot of effort for me to come up with a piece with good content and coherent sentences. But I like it so much that I find myself keep doing it; perhaps precisely because it is difficult, I simply have to master it, and it could very well be the reason why I love it so much.

The thing about writing is that it always starts with a blank page. And blank pages can be both exciting and daunting at the same time. There is a whole story for you to create there, a word-masterpiece waiting to take shape. A blank page is going to stay that way if you don’t start writing on it, word by word, as painful and difficult as it sometimes is to do. But the magic about writing is, as you pen down your first word, the second will inevitably come, and the third, and the fourth, and the next paragraph will follow and in time you would fill up the page with your thoughts. And the blank page is gone, just like that, replaced by your very own creation.

The thing about writing is, when you have written something that is truly your own, you will want to do nothing else but create more. It is a point of no return.

So Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. I hope you get to spend time with the people you love, doing something that you love.