# Writing is the Excavation of your Obsessions Writing is the excavation of your obsessions. The more you write, the deeper you dig. And the deeper you dig, the more you reveal what truly matters to you and what drives your heartfelt convictions. It’s not so much about discovering something new; it’s about focusing on what’s always been important to you. As Ayn Rand once said, “Words are a lens to focus one’s mind.” With each stroke of the pen or tap of the keyboard, we get closer to the rich soil of our inner world. By writing about something, you see it in greater detail — especially the ideas you usually take for granted. Like the clanking of metal against rock heard by an archaeologist at their dig site, the scratch of a pencil against paper is a sign that you're peeling back the layers of superficiality to uncover the bedrock of your obsessions.  For Joan Didion, writing was about finding herself: “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." Writing can be a journey toward self-knowledge. Each word is a step closer to unearthing what’s most true to you. Writing isn’t just a form of communication with others; it's a dialogue with your innermost being. The more you explore your interests and desires, the easier it is to sift out the ones that you don’t want to focus on. The more you discover what matters to you, the better you understand who you are.  Think of your pen as a miner’s pickaxe, your keyboard as a sculptor’s chisel. Every sentence strikes at the layers of thought, every paragraph carves away superfluous material. What you are left with is not only your message but also an artifact of your passions — what drives you, what you stand for, what you know. The more you write, the more your identity becomes clearer, sharper, and the more comfortable you are being that person. Clarity begets clarity. Obsessions intensify themselves. Write to freeze your true passions in their most vivid forms, and let it tell you about who you really are and what you really want. --- Date: 20240229 Links to: Tags: References: * [Write to Know Thyself](https://23766778.hs-sites.com/write-to-know-thyself?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=296134178&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8TkfeKf-L84-p9DZL0eprRISEdD0l6ErYx7L5rtBgjZzal-cLjbjqsOHxM8lvCIr2YZPSUj8hgmZtN31IWQjbpXUTqOw&utm_content=296134178&utm_source=hs_email)