why I stopped writing

Summary

The author describes their journey with writing during the pandemic, from starting a Medium blog out of boredom to abandoning it for social media growth and education, and finally deciding to return to writing as a form of storytelling.

Abstract

In early 2020, amidst the pandemic, the author found themselves back in their childhood home, attending college online, and feeling a profound sense of boredom. They turned to writing on Medium as a creative outlet, consistently publishing articles and enjoying the process without seeking fame. However, as they returned to college and began the process of transferring to a prestigious institution in New York City, their focus shifted to social media, where they experienced significant growth on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The demands of their studies at Columbia and the pursuit of a career led to the neglect of their Medium account. Now, seven months later, the author reflects on their passion for storytelling and decides to rekindle their initial commitment to writing.

Opinions

The author initially found TikTok embarrassing but later recognized its strategic potential for content creation and personal growth.
Writing on Medium provided a sense of consistency and personal fulfillment, regardless of the number of followers or public recognition.
The transition to a more challenging academic environment and the pursuit of a career in journalism led to a temporary abandonment of the author's writing hobby.
The author values storytelling and views their return to writing as a means to fulfill their

and why I’m coming back.

The year is 2020, and we are about six weeks into the pandemic. I am back in my childhood home from college, which was only 20 minutes away. I carry the ancient iMac desktop two flights of stairs up to my room, where I spend the next three hours attempting to revive it. I am 19 years old, supposedly a freshman at the local college, and I am bored. Between online classes that were not challenging, to a virtual internship at a non-profit, to walking around in the same circle in my old neighborhood probably a hundred times a week, I was bored. I lived in suburbia, most places were closed, and it was an incredibly lonely time as in all other situations, I had just moved out and started my adult life of independence.

Three choices during these six weeks would change my life forever. Downloading TikTok, and reading a medium article, and deciding to transfer to one of the best institutions in the world and move to New York City. TikTok came first, as I downloaded the app in April as a case study for one of my media classes. I found the whole thing embarrassing (this was the peak dancing era), but a great way to spend time as I had no other outlet for connecting with human beings. I said publicly on an old Instagram account that I would never make a TikTok in my life.

A few weeks after that, I discovered Medium. I had always had some sort of blog growing up, at the beginning this was my journal where I documented my adolescence since age 7, at 16 it was a Tumblr page, and now at 19 it was seeing how accessible starting a blog is and the reaching of a few people. So, I wrote my first article, which was an unpublished piece I had written a year previous. I ended up being a weekly writer, writing anything that would come into my head. For the first time, I was consistent at something and had a hobby. Each week, I would use that same iMac that only could function for Google Docs and write whatever was on my mind. This was without accolade and fame, today I still sit here with less than 100 followers. Perhaps this was the beauty of it all, that I could enjoy something just for myself.

As the summer came to an end and I moved back into college, my Medium account essentially died. I started college again, and I studied English and Political Science, there was already a lot on my plate to write and read. At the same time, I was spending my nights writing Common App essays, ass I would apply to transfer to 5 schools on the East Coast. My plate was filled and I had no motivation to write.

At the same time, my mind changed as I saw my friends having fun posting on TikTok. I decided to give it a go, and that would begin my growth mindset for the next three years. I had studied it strategically and posted content that I knew would go viral, and in the bedroom of my apartment in Downtown Louisville, I grew my first 10k. Over the next two years, during my move to New York, I would triple the numbers as well as grow nearly the same following on Instagram.

The medium account stayed stagnant, as I would redirect my attention elsewhere. The courseload at Columbia was harder and constantly required everything I had to give. Despite my few courses in Narrative writing at Barnard, my entire devotion was social media and finishing college.

The entire time, I was again looking for jobs, a career, whilst uncertain about what I wanted to do. I knew that the natural answer, the answer alongside the occasional bug I get for acting and theatre, would be journalism, to be a storyteller in its purest form. Yet, it has been seven months, and I realize that the only storytelling is the one I am doing myself, and to do so, I must come back to what I originally intended to do.

Write.