The promise to write

Starting a series of short essays

Some people's New Year's resolutions include going to the gym, travelling more, or reading more books. Me? I just want to write more.

Published by Vincent Suryakim on Sunday, Jan 18, 2026

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As 2026 came looming in, the annual cycle of being stuck in between crossroads reemerged. I, Vincent Suryakim, am once again conflicted on what I must do. On one hand, I am a man, no more than your average techie, stuck in his usual ways trying to learn and milk the most I can out of the current tech landscape— as if I am a farmer and it were a cow. Yet this is expected of me as I am a software engineer and it is what I thought I must do—and for a time, I embraced it.

Yet there seems to be a great dissatisfaction every time I do so. But no, before you think otherwise, I actually enjoy coding. I find it very much pleasing whenever I am able to solve a problem or optimize a process, especially when combined with the aesthetics of a clean, readable, and easily understandable code—as was taught by Robert C. Martin. By now, you might be wondering, what's exactly the reason I feel a great amount of dissatisfaction?

Well the answer to that, is because I feel that there is a huge gap; or rather a great unknown in my heart that longs to be filled. Yes, it is cliché — but for your information, it took me a few minutes before being able to articulate that feeling. There is a quote from a movie that said We don't read and write poetry because it's pretty. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion... Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. Never before have I ever encountered a string of words which resonates so deeply within me.

So... what now?

Thus, whether it is due to this new profound understanding of myself—or simply the need to vent out my thoughts and feelings on parchment—I decided to promise myself that I will write whenever I feel even the slightest bit of inspiration, regardless of its quality.

And who knows— in ten years, I'll probably publish this on the internet for all the world to see. Or it will just be an obscure file stored away in a vault within my computer, never to be seen again after writing this first article.

Let's see.
Life is after all, nothing more than a mere Great Perhaps.