Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3...

Is this thing on?

Zoinks.

Many moons and a bad blonde dye job ago, I thought I’d let the words that brimmed in the cup of my noggin runneth over and spill into the void of the internet. Years, miles, jugular-hit learnings, and a healthy(ish) sleep schedule later, I find myself here again, accompanied by the insatiable desire to immortalize the thoughts that roam free in my mind – for whoever is listening, and whoever isn’t.

We all make promises to ourselves that we vow to keep. Save recipes and exercise routines on TikTok (or Reels, if you swing that way), take screenshots of things we all swear we’ll come back to later, revisit resolutions we’ve proposed previously. Yet this time, this practice of reclaiming an integral part of my persona feels as serious as a heart attack.

No? Just me?

I’ve lived several lives, it feels, since the bright-eyed fledgling who fancied herself a writer. She wore that title on her chest like a badge of honor. A crayon drawing on the fridge. A first-place, science fair blue-ribbon. Yet, now older and only slightly wiser, she felt like she’d left that badge in a junk drawer, somewhere behind the collection of extra large sleeping T-shirts. What do you do for work? Write. What do you do for fun? There was a time when both answers matched. And so today we’re renewing our vows to the written word, as an ongoing exercise in valuing the gift of expression.

Recently, I found myself asking, who is the writer who abandons her pen (or QWERTY keys)? How can stories be told if they are left unwritten? Did I turn off my flatiron before I left the apartment?

The truth is, we’re all artists in our own right. We all bring unique, collected perspectives to the world, but it is up to us to determine whether or not we keep them collecting dust on top shelves or bring them forth like an honest truth.

It’s up to us, reader, to prevent those creative muscles from atrophying. To keep those unique perspectives vibrant and steadfast. In a day and age when there are wars waged against original thought and creativity, our position is best suited on the front lines.

Here goes nothing.

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