Photo by Cy Winstanley
I write to make sense of my world.
To find the perfect way to articulate the anguish of outlandish dreams.
Of the bliss of finding people who share your vision after years of doubt.
The gut punch of tying your worth to an outcome you can’t control.
Painters do this with color. Musicians with sound. Photographers with light.
They create to understand and be understood.
I write because speaking those feelings as accurately and specifically as possible feels desperately important.
It’s taken me a long time to stop asking why my medium isn’t music.
I love playing bass and singing, and I’m good at both. But they’ve never been the way I untangle my thoughts and feelings.
For a long time, I felt inadequate as a musician because I didn’t sit with an instrument every day, pulling melodies and lyrics from thin air.
But life’s too short to wish it away on things we can’t control.
I’m a writer.
There, I said it.
I write to process my experience as a woman in the world.
The way male stagehands instantly dismiss me, assuming one of the male band members is in charge.
How it feels when a puffed-up novice bro on the internet makes you question your hard-won expertise.
The quiet rage that brews when the mortgage lender speaks only to your partner, even though you set up the meeting and have all the information.
I write to understand, but I do so publicly because thinking you’re alone in these experiences makes it feel heavier. It turns quiet frustration into something crushing.
I also write to share the delight.
How incredible it feels to break through the pain and frustration you’ve been shackled by.
The moment you stop biting your tongue and politely but firmly say I’m the one you should be talking to.
To meet internet douchebags with the quiet confidence of someone who knows exactly who she is.
To recognize that other people’s antiquated gender stereotypes have absolutely nothing to do with your worth.
Writing is my bridge from crushing fear to confidence.
I share my writing as an invitation—to step out of doubt, walk across, and claim your freedom, too.
Right on!
Yes! I absolutely love that, all of that!! Thanks yo!!