Is Writing Your Operating System?

Your computer’s “operating system” is the program that runs it. If you upgrade or refresh your operating system, your computer runs differently. I believe we all have programs that run our lives. That’s where the term “reprogramming” comes from. For example, people like Joe Dispenza and Lacy Phillips teach us to “reprogram our subconscious.”

The other day, I thought, “What if writing is my operating system?” It’s the program through which I filter all my thoughts and ideas. I write for myself privately. I also write in public with these blogs. When I took that idea further, I came up with a list of reasons why writing is a great operating system, or program, that can be downloaded and used for a variety of purposes:

Writing as self-programming

Writing has a way of crystalizing or affirming ideas much deeper than just thinking about them. For example, if you want to achieve your goals, you’re told to write them down. Writing down affirmations or mantras is also helpful. Or you can confront your limiting beliefs or negative programming with writing, especially by hand. It has a way of clearing it out from your brain so much faster. Once I have an awareness of something that needs to shift, if I write it down, the shift usually happens quickly after that, as if writing it down makes it more solid and real.

Writing for emotional regulation aka “system maintenance”

Similar to running diagnostics or clearing the cache, our minds need a system reboot once in a while otherwise we get anxious and frazzled—nothing runs smoothly.

I don’t know about you but writing is very regulating. It brings me into a meditative state. Time flies by if I get into a good flow. I also turn to my journal when I need it. Lately, I’ve been writing to Chatgpt which I highly recommend. You can say “this is going on in my life…” and ChatGPT will give you objective and actionable advice. Plus, we can write more honestly when no one is actually receiving it. That’s therapeutic. Or you can turn to your journal or “Notes” app and write anything that you need to. There have been times in my life where I write poems to process my feelings. Or I’ll have a character going through a situation and write it out like fiction. There are endless ways that writing can act as a reboot to refresh yourself in both creative and mundane ways.

Writing as a portal to immortality

I was an English Literature major (with Economics) and one of the things I’ve always loved about books is how much they feel like a touchpoint with the authors across ginormous time horizons. I’ve read philosophy from people who lived many centuries ago and it still hits. There is so much power to language and the written word. Writing is the oldest technology and also still one of our most potent tools for human connection. If we choose writing as our operating system for life, even if it’s a private journal that gets passed down to your great-grandchildren, there is a portal through your handwriting, through your soul, that lives on.

Writing as a window to the past

I frequently revisit my old journals or blogs to get perspective on my past. It creates a framework for seeing yourself and your life unfold. Like, oh yeah, I always knew I wanted my own home office and now I have that — cool! It’s hard with any other medium to have that level of knowledge of your previous self.

It’s powerful to capture a snapshot of the current world whether it’s through your poetry, fiction, blog, or journal. This moment in time will no longer exist. But if you capture it, like a photograph, if you capture this idea, this feeling, this point of inspiration that you even want to write about it—that’s important.

I’m not an overly successful writer by any means, but I frequently have this whisper in myself when I’m writing:

“This is important.”

I have no idea why or to whom. And I frequently wonder if the answer is simply: “It’s important for me.” But regardless, writing is important. And what if that importance only grows with time? What if it only becomes clear after your lifetime when your grandchild reads your perhaps unpublished work and sees you and gets you? I do believe writing is important, and you can find your own reasons for why.

Writing for clarity and more precise thinking

I often have no idea what is going on in my head until I write it down. I’ll think, “I’m anxious,” but I’m not sure why until I start writing down a list of “here’s everything that’s bothering me right now.” And then I see it so clearly. Writing is a forcing mechanism of slower, more precise thinking. Or recently, I thought, “I want a more clear definition of my version of success.” I had a sneaking suspicion that I had already actually achieved a lot of the things I was going for, but it wasn’t really clear to me until I started writing down everything about my life. My idea of success is having my own suburban home that’s really pristinely taken care of, animals surrounding me who are also really pristinely taken care of, ample free time, a loving relationship, close bonds with my immediate family members, nieces/nephews, and my closest friends. A creative practice that lets me write in whatever form it needs to come through: privately, blogging, or writing a book.

Sometimes I write and the answers don’t come. Sometimes the operating system has limitations. It needs more time for the programmers to work a little longer before a new refresh is coming. Sometimes I journal, “I don’t have the answer to this problem yet but I’m going to live the question just a little longer in good faith that the answer is coming.”

Writing to make meaning

We are all living in questions. We are all asking ourselves some version of the following at various times: “Is this going to pan out? Is this worth my time? Is there a point to this? Is this appreciated or important?” Or some version of those questions that only living life will answer. But along the way, writing can be a beautiful operating system for living those questions, out loud, and making meaning out of all of it.

I don’t know if writing is “worth my time” in terms of career success. No idea. But writing is my operating system so I keep doing it. My friend Stef also told me something recently that stuck with me. She’s working on a cookbook with food recipes, as well as recipes for success, and she said, “You know what, I would be making this cookbook either way. Even if it’s just for my daughter, Charlie, to have it. So I might as well go for it and publish it and who knows what else will happen but either way, I’d be doing it anyhow.”

Writing and the act of creation itself is the reward. And I have a feeling whether it’s commercially successful or not, it is still “worth it” internally.

There’s something magical about wrestling with words, with thoughts, and with feelings.

It’s art and expression.

It’s timeless.

Writing as a way of being

Writing is not just a tool or a practice; it’s a way of being. It’s how we process, reflect, create, and capture the fleeting moments of our lives. It gives us clarity when we’re lost, connection when we feel alone, and meaning when the questions seem too big. Whether writing is your profession, your passion, or your private solace, I invite you to see it as a quiet but powerful operating system running in the background, with great potential to shape how you experience and record your world.