Why I’m Grateful Substack Became My Diary

My grandfather was a teacher. He immigrated from India to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, during the British Empire to help set up a school, eventually becoming its headmaster. He raised six children in a small two-room home, all of whom went on to build full lives, and I am close with all of my cousins to this day, despite living all around the world.

He had a command of English that still humbles me. I have his diaries and wish I had kept the letters he used to send me when I was younger. They were the “by air mail only / par avion” light blue one-sheet pages you had to fold just right and slice open with a knife, and every inch was covered in his equivalent six-point handwriting. I learned the art of writing from him, and even my mother admits that no one in the family wrote as beautifully as he did. As a ten-year-old, I began writing him letters when he had moved back to India. Writing was our bond, our facetime of the past.

He encouraged me to become a writer because he saw how much I loved it as a child. I kept a diary in college that I still look back on, and honestly, I wish I had kept that discipline in my 20s and 30s. I didn’t. My career path went down the fashion and beauty lane. Even when journaling became trendy, I never got back around to it. However, about ten months ago, I started a Substack. I had no expectations. I did it to help my company grow, and what it has given me back personally has been more than I imagined.

I don’t have a massive audience, but once a week I sit down and think. Really think. About work, beauty, parenting, ambition, doubt, and creativity. Writing it down showed me patterns and often forced clarity. It has made me more strategic, more honest, and oddly, more calm.

It is a lot of work coming up with ideas, and it takes commitment. And thank you to Cait, who proofreads every article and makes them better. I find the entire process deeply satisfying.

If you are new here, below are my three favorite pieces from this year, followed by Cait’s top three.

Happy holidays. I’ll be back in January, writing and growing more :-)

XX
Bina