WHAT THINGS ARE YOU REALLY, REALLY GOOD AT?

Writing.

My whole life I've been told by many, many people that my writing speaks to people. Growing up I was encouraged to use my writing as a career, I even had my English teachers telling me I could be an author. 

I don't know if it was lack of confidence, or because it's not a career that the world generally pushes you towards, but I never thought writing could be a path for me. It always felt like one of those crazy unrealistic childhood dreams such as becoming a pop star, model, or actress. 

However, despite turning my back on such ideas, writing has always been a core aspect of my life. It's helped me find a way to express things that not even I have been able to understand in my own mind, it's helped me come to terms with traumas I've struggled to overcome, and given me a voice during my darkest moments. 

I'm on the verge of taking my first dive into the unknown and publishing my first book of poetry. I started writing poetry as a way of coping with my mental health; each one serves as a poignant window into both the pain and the strength, and everything in between, during my breakdown and through my recovery.

In writing therapy I managed to use my written words to relate to others, to clearly express what I found hard to do out loud; I learned that it didn't matter if it sounded pretty or if it was free flowing; good art makes you feel or makes you think, and my writing certainly managed that. 

I don't recognise the person who wrote in my book the first few months of therapy. But I feel her pain, her hopelessness. It haunted me to realise just how ill I was; because you don't realise at the time just how unwell you are as it is just part of your daily life. I don't read the words and remember; I read them and the words take me there, to that exact emotion. Even at my lowest point I had a gift.


I realise now that it is time I used that gift to share with the world. I'm starting with these blogs and honestly believe the sky is the limit. Writing has given me such comfort and release from the horrors of the world, and now I want to give back some of that to others. I hope someone can read my work and gain something from doing so; it's happened in the past and I would love more than anything for that to continue into the future.