We write to be heard, and we write to hear ourselves

Hello. I spent some time wondering if I should just blog about art-related topics here, or if I should include a mix of lifestyle/personal thoughts.

I used to blog on another platform, which is basically a hodgepodge of the most random things: my travel stories (I really love travel writing), food, personal thoughts, and life stuff. Writing has always been my way of expressing myself ever since I was a little girl.

Over the years, I’ve found it harder and harder to write from the heart. I’m rather private about my personal life and my emotions, so it’s intimidating to have my thoughts broadcasted publicly.

So for the longest time, I held back. I hid behind casual posts and took great care to distance myself from it all – I was always just a narrator in my own stories, but never quite the main character. No, that was too personal. So private matters of the heart were only reserved for my closest circle, never for strangers.

Many years ago, I was blogging freely from the heart. It was fun at first. Then I started allowing my mind to lead, and things took on a different direction.

My mind – the ever cynical, critical conscious part of me – has expectations of myself. Therefore, when my writing is led by my mind, it’s strictly guarded. No personal stuff. No baring your heart and soul if it’s not necessary. Nothing that might bring you shame, or that might cause others to see you in a new (maybe even negative) light.

Protect, protect, protect.

Yet, I feel like God is challenging me to go deeper with Him, starting with my writing.

Vulnerability – that’s really what the whole writing process is about. Sure, we often plan what we want to say and how we want to structure our sentences but the actual writing happens when we allow ourselves to be real.

I’m talking raw, unfiltered thoughts that front our minds, things we think about before bed, things that make us feel alive and things that color our days – whether it’s sunny shades of yellow or gloomy shades of gray.

So we write. We write to encourage, to inspire, to remember.

We write to be heard, and we write to hear ourselves.

We write so our thoughts will unravel.

And sometimes, we write in hopes that the unraveling of these thoughts will help us arrive at a clearer understanding of the situation and ourselves. It’s okay to have a million messy drafts. Without them, we won’t have the real thing.

So this is me taking that step of courage and learning how to write from the heart again, the way I did all those years ago when I was writing for myself. My writing isn’t perfect or neat – it’s messy like my art. 😂 But I want to share honest revelations that I’ve received, in hopes that maybe I can encourage someone who’s going through a similar season.

And if you’ve gotten this far, thank you so much for reading this! I’m so glad to have you here. It means a lot. 😊 Feel free to share your blog link in the comments below, I’d love to check it out!