Why I write

This is Day 1 of #UGBlogMonth.

I know why I started blogging. I wrote about it last year. You’ll find it here.

The short of it is I was unemployed and broke.

But why do I really write? Why do I put words on pages? Why do I keep doing it even when I don’t want to?

I don’t know.

Maybe it’s got to do with something I wrote down about five years ago.

I was on the Third Floor of the Chandaria Business Center at Kenyatta University. I was part of the first cohort of YALI RLC East Africa.

To my left was Gakii. [Hi Gakii.]

We were learning and applying the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit 2 told us to begin with the end in mind. And I think it was in that session that we were asked to write down a mission for our lives.

I tinkered with a lot of words. I tried to be fancy. I tried to sound cool. I did many variations. I wanted to be important. Then I wrote a line. I read it. It sounded like something I could do. So I stuck to it. It became my mission.

“To be a source of hope, joy and smiles to humanity.”

And so I think I write to fulfill this mission. I also think it’s why I do everything else that I do.