The Journey Within

I think the last time i’ve written anything substantial using my hand was during the 3-hour exam i did last year. Most of the stuff i have now is typed. My emails, work reports, this blog! I wonder if we’re starting to lose the tactile feeling of writing by hand. We still inherit the word “writing” though. I don’t call what i’m typing now my “typing”. I still call it my “writing”. Maybe, the very word “write” may become obsolete in a few decades. However, we can be quite stubborn to stick to things that have become a habit. I might still call all my typewritten text my writing 40 years down the line. Just as we still inherit the queer QWERTY keyboard. There is no reason why ‘e’ has to be so far away from the middle when it’s being used so often!

However, do we lose something by not writing? Does the tactile feeling of writing actually transmit any additional knowledge about myself that i’m missing by typing? Certainly, through typing, i find myself able to express quicker. The thoughts that’s flying out will just emerge through my fingers. Writing hasn’t been that quick for me. I’ve never considered my handwriting fast enough to dictate what i have in mind. Typing gives me a much quicker outlet, which in turn allows my thoughts to flow more naturally.

And the best part about typing… is that DELETE button (or backspace, depending on which one you use). It’s such an amazing function. There’s no fuss about running out of the delete button. No erasing the paper until you bore a hole into the paper. No messy trails of eraser bits. Do these bits even have a name?

The question remains though… do we lose something by not writing with your hand? I’ve certainly found my handwriting to look horrible. I had to jot down some quick message on a piece of paper recently, and i realised that they’re just what a 3 year old kid would write! Probably i can write with my left hand, and you won’t be able to tell the difference! (I’m a dominant right, if you haven’t guessed that.)

so, one thing we lose is the beauty of handwriting. The accomplished writer (i.e. anyone who writes a lot) will have a more congruent handwriting than the amateur. Is beauty important? Why do we recognise beauty when we see it? This is probably an entire topic on itself. But focusing on handwriting itself, maybe the beauty tells us something else about the writer than the mere meaning of the words written. Just like body language. The body actually conveys 80% (ok, the majority) of the message of the words spoken. (i’ve read/heard it somewhere, so don’t quote me on the statistic!) So, can this be true also of handwriting?

Without going into typography analysis (or i think that’s what they’re called), i believe writing actually tells the writer something rather than the reader. The reader may interpret the handwriting, but the writer will benefit from the message. The art of handwriting will help the writer to grow as a person. By learning how to write, you learn more about life itself. You learn that every stroke matters. You learn that each stroke will build from the previous one. You learn that sometimes you like to write freely (scribbles) and sometimes you like a more rigid handwriting. You learn that you couldn’t write as fast as your thoughts, so you have to choose your words carefully, giving you space to think.

So, i urge myself as much as i urge you. Continue writing. You never know when you’ll need to pick up that pencil to write an important message down. You never know that when you write “I miss you” in your own handwriting, you’ll actually pass on an important message that may change your life, and someone else’s!

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Related posts:

1. Writing the low tech way
2. Life’s little snippets
3. Fake it in writing
4. Procrastination – oh not again…
5. Techniques vs skill