Whatshot
Through my eyes
Through my eyes
Date: 2019-09-27
Very often people comment on my writing. Mostly I get praised and I am always humbled that someone finds my work interesting, interesting enough to comment about it. Sometimes, (rarely these day) I get an English lesson and some sharp criticism, it's usually from some pompous Bof, who does not get me. And these days I get it, and I don't let it upset me.
Most weeks my writing finds inspiration in the everyday mundane. It could be anything, but mostly it needs to be fierce and raw, because any kind of writing, even the illiterate kind has to be full of emotion. It must be intense.
All I know is that my writing has to be either very angry or very sad or very happy, just like my life. It has to have purpose, I want you to read it and have an experience.
If it moves you, if it makes you feel a certain emotion, that itself is so beautiful. Because as human beings, emoting is probably our biggest superpower.
My writing is very unapologetic. I just write. It almost feels like a flood, like I just spill out these words and then they're there and I don't know what to do with them, so I leave them there for the world to interpret, and I walk away from it.
It's funny because people are like, "What do you really do " or "Is this your work " and I'm like, "No, it's my survival."
Writing is such a big part of my life, it's what I do in my sleep, on my way to meetings, in meetings, my mind is forever composing.
I have resigned myself long ago that a lot about my writing is about hanging my dirty laundry in public and bizarrely it feels good. No skeletons in this closet, thank you very much.
One of my mentors, Israeli psychologist Baruch Banai once asked me; "What are you willing to commit to, regardless " It is a life lesson I rarely forget to consult these days.
Today, I'm 50 days away from my 50th birthday and I think I have finally found my grounding; I'm unapologetic but humble. Fearless yet compassionate. Filled with scars and neat fine lines. I have grown into the woman I am and the writer I have become and there are no regrets.
In recent years I have learnt to appreciate the little things in life rather than what society tells me will result in happiness and success. I have learned that the hardest things in life are also the most fulfilling.
Writer Hugh Black once wrote; "The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self."
I have found my purpose, how about you Share your story with me.