My wife enjoys reading my essays, or at least she says that she does. Though she reads them, I am sure she does not enjoy the idea of writing them. Which is precisely why this year I have challenged her to begin writing essays and submitting them to me like homework.

Before you deem me an abusive husband with very strange demands on my wife, she volunteered to do this. And there are some very clear benefits to writing essays that you should consider adopting for the sake and strength of your own marriage. Even if you are single and would be writing only for yourself, the art form of essay writing will do wonders for your development.

The most obvious reason for writing an essay is what it does for your brain. Writing and reading grows your brain. Handwriting, especially, will slow you down and increase your ability to attend to a very specific purpose. Writing essays allows you to spell out your ideas and connect different storylines that are floating through your mind, creating something more cohesive. Essay writing is a form of communication, of conversation, and by writing will rehearse conversations before they happen in the real world, filling in gaps before they emerge.

Less obvious is what writing these essays will do for Olga and I and our marriage. When we write essays, we are able to think out ideas more fully than when we are just talking off the cuff. This will allow her and I to see more deeply the heart behind our thoughts and beliefs. I truly believe that marriage is an endless pursuit of knowing another person more deeply. What better way to get into the crevices of another’s brain and soul than to read their essays?

Essays are perhaps my favorite form of human expression. We live in an age of TikTok and YouTube Shorts. This mode of expression communicates almost nothing of value outside the influx of dopamine. On the opposite side of the spectrum, books are often too long in our busy world. Essays are the perfect length to complete a thought with context while belaboring nothing. There is sustenance, but no empty calories. I find essays conversational, not seeking to answer every question on a topic but instead serves as an invitation to dance through an idea together, encouraging a dialogue with the reader.

Essays are the resistance to a world of easy dopamine, of low attention, of chatbots stealing our ability to think on our own unassisted. Communication, which is improved with the ability to write well, is the key to reversing the decline in relationships and marriage and division and degrading trust. Essays are a tool, a practice, that can help nearly any person in nearly any position or profession.

Is a movement of essay-writing the tool that could literally bring about world peace? I don’t know, but I would certainly say writing essays isn’t going to keep us from getting to world peace.

You should write essays! About world peace, about marriage, about whatever it is you do or think or wish to persuade the world of. Engage in conversation. Write. Think.

You never know the power of a pen and a few good thoughts might lead you. Maybe to a stronger marriage. Maybe it will make you a better communicator. Maybe it will change the direction of someone’s life. Or maybe it will change your own direction.

Do not leave a good thought unthunk, or a beautiful word unwritten.

If you decide to write an essay, send it to me! I would love to share in that experience with you. [email protected]

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