Life isn't easy

and it hasn't been the best.

Once I thought,

"maybe it won't ever get better,"

feared the worst,

couldn't see past the darkness.

I was told I wouldn't make it.

"How will you survive real life

if you can't survive high school?"

"How will you have a job

if you can't talk to people?"

"How will you be loved

if you don't put yourself out there?

If you look like that?

If you aren't even sure love is real?"

And I believed them.

I couldn't talk to people.

Anxiety and depression controlled me.

I didn't trust people;

too many had shown me I shouldn't.

And I didn't believe in true love.

My parents convinced me marriage would just end in hate.

Then my heart got broken

and it was the lowest I had ever been

and probably ever will be.

But it made me grow.

It finally destroyed me enough

for me to seek help.

I went to therapy

and slowly my mind was convinced

that not all my thoughts are real or true.

Not everyone hates me.

I am not solely what I look like.

I am creative and funny and hopeful.

People like me and want to be my friend.

So maybe I'm not rich or famous

but I have a job

and I have friends

and I talk to people.

I'm doing okay.

And that's much more than I thought I would ever be able to say.

A good writer knows how to make their reader feel something - utter despair, boundless joy, irritation - even if they haven't experienced it for themselves. Good writing doesn't have to have perfect punctuation or sophisticated language. It just has to be meaningful to whoever is reading it. Sometimes it teaches a lesson, other times it's a warning, and sometimes it is simply an unfettered rant of all the things we can't bring ourselves to say out loud. And not all writing is the same. For example, poetry comes in many forms and often doesn't follow standard punctuation and grammar rules, but that doesn't mean it is bad writing.

Good writing still matters, even with social media. It just may not always be the first thing we see when we log in. Important, unique thoughts can still be shared in a 280 character tweet with no punctuation. Creativity is expressed in so much more than just words through TikTok and YouTube. Facebook and Instagram allow us to connect to others during a time when it's even easier to let ourselves sink into the loneliness and forget there are still others out there.

Good writing will always matter. People will always go back to the classics - Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Bronte. But we can also find good things on social media. We just have to search a little harder for them - or learn to create them ourselves.

Hey guys!

I just started up an Etsy shop to try to sell some of my art, paintings, and photos. I’d really appreciate it if you’d repost this, check it out, follow my instagram account, and tell others about it!

@alexis.art_photos

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AlexisArtAndPhotos

Thank you so much!!

I am but a mere word in your story,

never to be seen again.

But you filled up chapters of my book,

my life now summed up by before and after.

Before I met you; after you left.

Everything in between just a blurry mess of

secrets and lies, heartbreak and love.

You meant everything to me...

but I meant nothing to you.

The moonlight flickers on the stormy sea as waves are tossed against craggy rocks. I always come here around midnight, when no one else is here. It feels so peaceful - just the waves, the moon, and me. All my problems melt away, if only temporarily.

Suddenly someone appears next to me. He's young and handsome, and when he looks me in the eyes it's like he's staring straight into my soul. For some reason he seems familiar, but I can't figure out why.

He holds out a hand. "Lets go on an adventure."

That was always his favorite saying.

He never cared about me.

but i cared about him

Hurt him the way he hurt me.

how could i hurt someone i love?

He deserves to feel pain and guilt.

he doesn't deserve that. no one does

Make him stay.

let him go