When I was a teenager, I journaled.
When I was on the edge of becoming an adult, I started writing music.
When I entered young adulthood, it was the era of blogs and I hopped on that bandwagon for a while.
When I entered the “real world” (aka - realized work was a full year adventure and there were no more summers off), my creative side was mentally decommissioned.
Between jobs last summer, my friend over at
invited me to meet a group of writers that consistently connect and hold each other accountable to writing. I was thrilled to have an opportunity to reconnect with my creative side and see where it may lead.After my divorce, I thought I was going to write a book about it (and I still might), but that never fully baked.
After some heavy and difficult therapy sessions, I’d sit down and write what I felt, like a journal.
Everything I had written so far in my adult life was privately stored in my Google Drive. (As private as Google can be, I suppose.)
I had shared various pieces with friends or family in the past, and finally worked up the courage to share one of my writings with this new writing group.
When they shared positive feedback and encouraged me to publish my writings, I realized my friends and family weren’t “just being nice”. Perhaps, I did have something to say that could be shared with the world.
Perhaps, it’s time for me to be bold and share what I’ve written.
It’s slightly terrifying to put my work into the ether of the interwebs. My writing is really personal to me. I have come to realize my biggest fear in “going public” is someone telling me my writing is bad and that equating to my experience and feelings not being valid.
And after wrestling with this fear for a while, I realized - they are entitled to their opinion. All day, ‘erry day - they can feel how they want to feel about it. They can say what they want to say about it.
I am the main character of my life. Periodt.
My stories, life, experiences and feelings are no less valid just because someone doesn’t like what I have to say or how I write it. My life is just that - mine.
If you’re standing at that same crossroad where fear and confidence collide….
do the thing.
Want to read more from me? Subscribe below