To the Person Who is Afraid to Write,

Ever since I was in elementary school, I knew writing would be a big part of my life. It was something I genuinely enjoyed doing, whether I was writing cheesy songs, short stories for school, short stories outside of school, or scripts for God-awful homemade videos.

The best part about being a little kid, in my opinion, is that you don't know what true fear is. Sure, you know that you don't particularly like getting stung by bees, getting splinters in your feet, or losing your mom in the grocery store. But you don't know the worst fears of all, yet. You aren't afraid of failure, judgement, or conflict.

Sometime around adolescence, those are the fears that start to kick in. I'm not sure, but I think it was around this stage in life when suddenly, I became afraid to write. It was almost like stage fright, which didn't make any sense at all, because most of the time it was just me and my notebook.

This lasted all throughout middle school and most of high school.

I was afraid to keep a journal because what if - God forbid - someone found it? I was afraid to write for the school newspaper or anything that my peers could read. I was afraid to start a blog because, well, I didn't know how to start. I didn't want people to think I was incompetent, or judge me, or become offended or disagree with anything I wrote.

Looking back, I had no reason to be so scared. And the same goes for you.

I know how terrifying it is to publish something because there's always the chance someone will not like it or understand it. But you know what? You can't please everybody.

Write for yourself and somewhere along the way, you will attract the right audience. The people who understand you, support you, and agree with you are typically the people who are going to read your articles and stories.

If people don't want to read your articles, blog posts, or stories, then so be it. It is extremely unlikely that they will judge you or bash your writing skills (and how can they, if they don't even read your stuff?)

Write because of everything you will gain. Write because it helps to unleash all the anxiety from your mind. Write because there are some memories that are just too good to forget. Write because your article may help others (even just one person). Write because you want to and you can. It's pretty rare, and beautiful, if both of those words apply to you. Never let the fear of what others think hold you back.