Writing has probably been my form of therapy for as long as I can remember. I was that little girl who had the Password Diary that wouldn't open unless it heard your voice. I found out that was a joke when my brother mimicked my voice and got into it...I have been writing down things that happen throughout my day, thoughts I have, or anything since then. It wasn't until high school that I started actually putting meaning to what writing was actually providing me, besides that obvious of possibly improving my writing skills (maybe).
At first, I was just writing about my day, my thoughts, what made me mad, or happy, or anxious, without making the connection of how writing made me feel afterwards. It got that initial flood of emotions out. Instead of acting on my anger, sadness, or anything for that matter in a completely different way, I was able to put it into words and reflect on it more, which is probably the best thing anyone can do, reflect.
You can write for anything. Some write for themselves, some write to spark a fire in others. We have amazing authors that started writing for pure entertainment or to teach readers lessons and we have writers that have not even been discovered yet that are writing for themselves to get through the stressful day. You can write to escape from the reality you're living in, or you can write to accept the reality you're living in. Last year I took the time to read through EVERYTHING I wrote in high school. Emotional to say the least, but also very enlightening because reading the things I wrote back then made me realize how silly some things were. How the saying "this won't matter in 10 years" really is true.
It may be hard to believe and I'm still trying to believe it as well, but I do know that reading what I wrote as little as three years ago definitely does not matter at this point in my life. Reading and reflecting on these situations that had happened in high school definitely showed me how far I have come and even though I may not believe it on the surface, it gives me hope that those silly things that are happening in my life now, also will be conquered or forgotten about in three more years and that gives me something to look forward to.
