Allow Yourself to be a Writer —Part 3
One year as a writer — Reflection and my best lessons
The body of a woman was found stabbed to death in the park. This park is the setting of nearly two hundred of my photo essays. It is hard to imagine the woman, her murderer, and I may have all placed our feet on the exact same piece of the earth.
It was as if each of us had visited a separate universe. Our experiences were worlds apart. What we saw there couldn’t have been more different.
I visit this park regularly to enjoy nature, take awe walks, and photograph the seasons as they spread across the grounds. I watch the sun as it sets beside the river.
How could anyone see this as a place to dispose of a homicide victim? What desperation must one feel to see this beautiful land as a human dump?
I wish this was an isolated incident. I wish I didn’t have a similar fatal story that impacted my own extended family just a few months ago. I wish the abundance of tragic headlines in the news were just fiction taglines for movie trailers. I wish people weren’t even interested in such movies.
The truth is, there are unfathomable depths of real darkness in the world.
Even if we are not immediately impacted by this darkness, just hearing about the world’s troubles can bring us down. We can also feel internally stuck in our thoughts and our own struggles. A level of hopelessness can settle in our souls. We can become blind to the beauty of the world, our own greatness stifled.
At the same time, we can look outside of ourselves and literally just outside of our windows, to see countless miracles unfolding every second. Allowing awe to take over our senses is the best way to shut out the sometimes seemingly insurmountable problems of the world. Our own lesser issues and annoyances fade away when we allow ourselves to fully experience the best of the world. We can shift our focus, fan the flames of hope, and reach out to embrace the goodness in each other.
Through my writing, I ponder ideas and connect with others so we can move forward together with hope in our hearts. If that sounds like a cue for butterflies and rainbows, so be it. I like butterflies and I like rainbows. Both captivate me, causing me to pause, wonder, and smile.
As a writer, this is exactly where I would like to meet each of my readers, at a point where we can pause, wonder, and smile together.
I began writing exactly one year ago. I have worked with coaches and editors. I have analyzed stats (and written about it more than necessary). I have joined challenges and responded to prompts. I started a publication and asked others to respond to my prompts. I have met so many amazing people and been supported so much along the way.
Most importantly, I have listened to my inner voice more closely than ever before. Through writing, I have been reacquainted with my authentic self. This has allowed me to continue to learn and write with a new level of intentionality.
I want to encourage others to pause, wonder, and smile.
I have always had the inner voice that said, write. I couldn’t quite hear the explanation of why. It is becoming more clear each day. I will keep listening and learning.
This year I have written a lot. I have read even more. I have learned what writing can do for the writer as well as for the reader. Here are my three best lessons about the power of writing:
- Write for yourself first. It doesn’t have to be published, but it has to come out. Writing for self-discovery and writing to learn are two important ways to experience the most impactful benefits of writing. We can uncover and examine our fears, doubts, and self-limiting beliefs. Left unchecked, we may get in our own way. We can regularly explore our why, our values, our natural skills development, our fascinations, and our gratitude in order to show up as our best selves for the world. The world needs us to show up. Write for yourself first.
- Read great writing. Reading great writing is like engaging with a free writing tutor. There is a mentor behind every page. Find what moves you and translate that feeling to make connections with your readers. Reading expands our perspective and fuels our creativity for sharing our own writing in ways that impact others.
- Value your own perspective. You bring what you think is important to the table from your own experience. Don’t back away, leaving space for only the “best” and the “experts.” Don’t try to emulate others either. You are the only one that can offer your unique view. That is your value. We are better collectively, the more we learn from each other.
I may never know if the woman discovered at my favorite park took her last breath there or not. I will always wonder if she got to experience the beauty of this space for even a second.
I will remember her as I continue to explore. I will continue to share what I see to encourage others to pause, wonder, and smile.
Our time is limited. We need to take every opportunity we can to embrace what is beautiful in the world and to connect with others in meaningful ways.
Thanks for reading. I hope everyone finds something beautiful and takes a moment to pause, wonder, and smile.
Through this link, you can find my Allow Yourself to be a Writer, and See What Happens series where I have documented a couple of other points in my journey. I shared these stories because I found inspiration in reading the stories of other writers, maybe I can pass it on.
Also, since this is my one-year anniversary as a writer, this is the moment for me to say to myself, Wow, 52 weeks and 465 stories. More stories, more learning, more new connections, and more fun than I could have imagined. What a beautiful year! (I am pausing, wondering, and smiling!)
Here are two of my earliest published stories, just to take a quick look back together. Thanks for joining me on this journey!
My first ever published story, encouragement to use and share:
My second published story focuses on helping kids:
(If you read Part 1 and Part 2, you may be wondering if there has been any progress on my website and my Children’s Science Series. You can see the website redesign below. For the book series, you will have to keep wondering and waiting to see what I come up with in the redesign! My inner voice told me to focus on one writing project at a time.)
