I very much have an analog side. Sometimes I find slowing down and writing things down helps me process thoughts a little better. That doesn’t mean the things I write with paper and pencil necessarily stay that way forever, but quite often, it’s an excellent first draft.

As an analog explorer, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole over the years of fancy pens, including fountain pens. But several years ago, I found an old box of pencils and decided on a whim to try using those. I never looked back.

It’s easy to think of the simple pencil as that thing we used back in school, never to be touched again, but pencils have a lot of merits.

They’re erasable. If you make a mistake, you can erase it and do it over. But that goes even deeper. Because it’s erasable, you can take a risk once in a while.

They dry instantly. The fancier and more expensive your pen gets, it seems, the longer you have to wait for the ink to dry. Not so with a pencil.

They work in extreme conditions. You can write with a pencil underwater, in extreme heat or cold, or even zero gravity. When I had a fountain pen, I was terrified to use it on an airplane because I kept reading about fountain pen explosions under airplane cabin pressure. That’s just not a thing when you use pencils.

I also find the process of sharpening pencils therapeutic. It gives me a minute to stop and think. Over the years, I’ve bought several different sharpeners, ranging from a simple hand twist to a fancy one that’s more akin to a hand plane. They’re all delightful and give me a break to stop and think while writing.

Overall, there’s an appealing simplicity to pencils. There’s no cables or batteries or sync issues—you just pick it up and write. There’s also a strange sense of accomplishment when you use up a pencil down to the nib. I look at it and think, “I made something relevant with this.”

I like the way pencils embrace impermanence. Anything I write with my pencil is subject to change, and that’s okay. It almost invites mindfulness as you sit there, sharpening a pencil, and then listen to the scratch, scratch across the paper as you write down your thoughts.

I doubt this essay is going to get many converts. I think most people still think of pencils as things for third graders. But boy, do I love mine.

If you’re curious, my favorite pencil is the Mitsubishi 9852 EW. They are inexpensive and a pleasure to use.