Why You Should Write, Even If It Makes Others Uncomfortable

We write about your feelings. We write about your exes. We write about your families and friendships and failures. We write about heartbreak and triumph. We write about the deepest and darkest times in your life because sometimes that’s the only way you know how to express yourself. Open up the page. Take the pen in your hands. And write.

Even when you don’t feel like it–write. How could you possibly imagine a life where you weren’t taking everything that’s accumulating in your fragile mind and throwing it onto the page? Write to sustain. Write to survive.

You have the power to take your writing and share it with the world. You have a blogs and vlog and places like Thought Catalog that provide safe spaces for you to not only write but to share that writing with the world. What a scary yet exhilarating feeling.

Write about your miscarriage. Write about your health. Write about your marriage, your life as a stepmother and the death of your best friend. The deepest, most sensitive parts of my life are on display for anyone to read and that’s scary. There is a palpable vulnerability that comes with “bearing your soul”, but write anyway.

Even if makes others uncomfortable.

Especially if it makes others uncomfortable.

Because that’s when you know that you’re really making people feel something. You’re making art–and others are responding to it. You’re an artist. You’re a goddamn writer.

Write about your faults. Write about your mistakes–the really dirty, ugly ones. Write about your sex life. Write about your family’s dysfunction. Write about your struggles with belief. Write about that wild night. Write about that romantic night in. Write until your soul is tired. Write to forget the ones that hurt you. Write to remember them too. Write to set the world on fire. Write with unabashed freedom. Write to heal your wounds and fade your scars. Write to connect. Write to feel. Write to be who you are. Write to find out who you are.

Write because Hemingway told us to sit down and bleed. Bleed onto the pages and tell your story. Tell your truth. Help others through your writing. Cut your heart open to help heal others. Write to clear your head. Write to understand. Write because you have a story to tell. Write because it’s who you are.