What Writing Taught Me About Self-Discovery
Hi, I’m a writer. Yes, I make it my whole personality sometimes, and what’s it to you?! I actually started writing as a child. What began as something I loathed in school became my greatest emotional and creative outlet. I wrote essays in middle school for quite a few classes, but one day in 8th grade, I got really good at them. Not to mention, being a Chicago kid, I participated in the Young Authors book competition every year and won for my grade each year of middle school. It wasn’t like I had fallen in love with it, but by then, it just felt easy. It became fun. No stakes…except for the grade, of course. In high school, I wrote poetry and songs, including composing a few. Writing this here reminds me of all of my side quests that made me who I am. Maybe I’ll return to some of them.
Recently, I found one of those Young Authors books that I wrote and won. I read it and discovered all of the emotion behind the words of twelve year old Kimani. What hadn’t occurred to me before was how much of myself I had put into my art even as a child. You’re not even fully self-aware yet. Or at least self-aware about being self-aware. We’re all just feelings at that age anyway, and it’s so pure. I was hurt, abandoned, bullied, but hopeful. I longed for a big, creative life even then.
My characters screamed to be heard and seen and I didn’t even know that it was because I wanted to be heard and seen.
Upon serious introspection, I’ve come to realize that our characters are masks that we wear. Versions of ourselves that we see and acknowledge, as well as ones that we project, try to forget, or even aspire to become. That’s not to say that every character is all of you, but a fragment of your essence. Like a horcrux, if you will, for my Potter heads. Writing isn’t just art to me. And if you’re here, it probably isn’t just art to you either. It’s emotional exposure. It leaves you completely vulnerable…to be critiqued, to be rejected, to be validated.
When I wrote ‘Burning Sage’, I thought I was creating this fictional world about a Black Robin Hood who’s actually Neil Caffrey and JoAnn the Scammer’s love child. In hindsight, I wrote the anxious best friend, the manipulative antagonist, and the one who keeps saving everyone but herself…all versions of me at some point in time, and odds are, some of them are versions of you. What a beautiful way to track the progress of personal growth. I guess I could’ve journaled and gone to therapy, but this was cheaper. I went to therapy, though lol. All that to say, Sage was me. The version of me that wanted power, but didn’t know what to do with it. She was confident, but terrified to be seen. That’s the great part about being a writer, though. You build a connection by the mere fact that people identify with your character.
Moral of the story is that writing can be used as a mirror to all the versions of you.
Past, present, and future. You can build on who you’ve become to reach the next level of your greatness and authenticity. You can say what you need to say and be bold. You can soften your edges. Whatever it is, use this art form to be your best self and bring people along for the story that is you. Somebody is waiting on it.
Create your best life today! 🔑
