If you write a note with butterfly effect thinking, does the way you see the world change?

I like the term "butterfly effect".

It's kind of nice, isn't it?
It sounds good. It sounds a bit intellectual.
Just saying it makes me feel like I look smarter, too.

……Well, I only look that way, though.

But honestly, I've always been drawn to this term.

The expression "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"
is famous, but

it refers to the idea that small changes can lead to unexpectedly large results.

This is interesting as a story about natural phenomena, but lately, I often think of it in another context.

When I write a note.

Just a few hundred to a few thousand characters.
Just one experience.
Just one post.

What on earth is the meaning of such small things?

Honestly, there are times I think that.

"What's the point of writing something like this?"

I do. I really do.
In fact, I think it every time I write.

Especially on days with little reaction.
"This time, too, it's completely windless..."
Sometimes it feels like there's not even wind, but that the air itself has stopped.
It's a vacuum. It makes me wonder if I'm writing a note in space.

But I feel it's a bit of a shame to end it there.

That's because we tend to judge that only visible results "had meaning."

However, in reality, there are more things in life that are moving in places we cannot see.

An article opened by chance.
A sentence that caught my eye for no particular reason.
Words that remained for some reason, even though they weren't intended to strike a chord.

Such things can sometimes have a gradual effect later on.

Even if it ended with a "huh" in that moment, you might suddenly remember it days or months later, and your actions might change.
And if your actions change, the people you meet will change.
The time you spend will change.
The words you choose will change.
Then, naturally, the scenery you see will change as well.

When you think about it that way, isn't note a bit mysterious?

The person writing is just sitting in their room, in front of a smartphone or computer, typing away with a rather plain expression on their face.
Looking at it from the outside, it doesn't look like someone who is about to change the world.
They're hunched over as usual.
Their coffee has gone cold.
And until a moment ago, they were even thinking about what to have for dinner.

But there is a possibility that this mundane task is creating a small ripple somewhere in someone's thoughts.

What's important here is that I don't want to talk about something sparkly like, "If you write a note, you can change the world!"

No, if you make it into such a grand story, it suddenly becomes suspicious.

You can change the world!
Your words create the future!
Start posting right now!

When it gets like that, it suddenly starts to smell like a seminar.
No. That's not it.

What I want to say is something more modest and more realistic.

Your words can reach further than you think.
And,if you write with that possibility as a premise, the way the writer sees the world itself changesis what I mean.

For example, until now, I thought of writing as "putting it out there."

Post one today.
Just post it for now.
See the reaction.
It doesn't grow.
I get a little depressed.
But I post again.

It's completely "shipping."

There are moments when I don't even know if I'm writing or just running a factory.

But if you think about it in terms of the butterfly effect, note is no longer just a post.

It becomes something likea small seed whose purpose isn't just to get immediate results, but one that you don't know where or how it will take effect.

The moment I thought that, the way I approached my writing changed a little.

I stopped letting the "likes" and page views right in front of me determine the value of my writing.
Of course, I care.
I care a lot.
People who don't care have probably become hermits.

But when I can think that the reactions I see might not be everything, the meaning of writing is extended just a little bit.

This is huge.

Because unless your posts go viral in a flashy way, it's quite easy to get discouraged.

What's more, the tricky part is that when there's no reaction, people start to deny their own writing itself.

Is this content not good enough?
Is my perspective too weak?
Do I need to make it clearer, more useful, and sharper?

I really understand that feeling.

But, I stop there and think for a moment.

Is that really the case?

Perhaps what is needed now is not stronger words, but a perspective that looks further ahead.

The numbers in front of you are just 'today's reaction,' not the total amount of change your writing causes.
Just one person reads it and their way of thinking changes a little.
That one person becomes a little kinder in a conversation with someone the next day.
Or, they start something. Stop something. Continue something.
That small change is passed on to someone else.

Isn't that a sufficiently interesting chain reaction?

And above all, when you write with that premise, the weight of the act of 'writing' changes within you.

I don't mean that in an exaggerated way.
It's not a suffocating talk about 'feeling responsible' or anything like that.

Quite the opposite.

You can become a little freer from the impatience of having to produce results right away.

You don't have to prove anything with today's article.
You don't have to try to write a masterpiece that changes lives with this one piece.
Just leave behind a small flutter that might remain somewhere in someone.

That feeling makes much more sense to me.

Perhaps the value of writing on note isn't 'changing the world directly.'

What changes first is how you see your own world.

Even on days with little reaction, you won't think it was 'zero.'
Even on days when it seems like nothing is happening, you can think, 'maybe I just can't see it.'
Then, strangely, you won't be able to treat writing carelessly.

One post.
One experience.
One question.
One word.

They are not as light as you think.

That doesn't mean you have to try to write something amazing every time.
In fact, the moment you try to write something amazing, it usually turns into a strange piece of writing.

You know that feeling, right?
The one where you get all fired up to write something profound, only to end up climbing a mountain of your own poetic musings and finding you can't get back down.

That is dangerous.

Instead, what you should do is
take what truly caught your attention and write about it properly, in your own words.

That accumulation might just change something, somewhere, someday.
At the very least, it is much more fun to write when you can believe that.

If you write on note with a butterfly effect mindset, does the world change?

Probably, the world itself won't change all at once.

But,
the way you view your own words will change.
Your attitude toward writing will change.
And that change might quietly connect to how someone else sees things, too.

That alone is interesting enough.

A single sentence written today might unexpectedly take flight inside someone else in the future.

Thinking that way changes the way you approach writing on note just a little bit.

At the very least, that is how I want to write.

While feeling happy or sad about the visible results.
Feeling those emotions fully.
And on top of that, still wanting to believe a little in the invisible chain reaction.

After all, if a single butterfly can change the sky somewhere,

it wouldn't be strange at all if a single note changed someone's tomorrow just a little bit.