You're Not Alone

My last post was short and sweet. It was done on purpose, and I had no desire to make its message longer than it was. However, it did lead into more thoughts I wanted to share.

Everybody has deep thoughts. Most people are having the same deep thoughts. We don't all have them at the same time, but they are the thoughts that stick with us; we don't forget them.

Those thoughts are our greatest fears and our strongest desires. They are the things we rightly keep to ourselves. If others knew of our secret shames, they would ostracize us. If they knew of our hopes and dreams, they would belittle and deride us.

But the reality is that you're not alone. No matter what it is you want, somebody else wants the same thing. Whatever thing you've done that you hate yourself for, somebody else has also done.

However gross or bizarre or atrocious the things in your mind get, you are not alone. You only feel that way because we're all too afraid to expose ourselves to others.

It often seems that these writers are the only people who understand us, because their thoughts are like our thoughts. But like I said before, the only difference is that writers write those thoughts down. Some of those writers may share their thoughts with a select few. Some writers will share their thoughts with the world.

As a writer (and as a reader), I am not interested in the things that we all acknowledge openly. I know that sunsets are pretty and flowers smell nice; I don't care about that. I am interested in the people who play in abandoned warehouses, the people who stare at a car crash because they are fascinated by the new forms that the hunks of metal and plastic take on, the people who choose solitude because the world in their head is way more interesting than the world around them, the people who choose social lives because they are so scared of the world inside their heads.

Everybody is unique, but that does not mean that we do not have a vast amount of similarity among us. But the only way you will be able to make that connection is by extending yourself. Write down those thoughts you have and show them to the people and show them the courage to extend themselves to the world.

This is the kind of power that writing has. It has the power to change societies. It has the power to remove fear and connect individuals. It has all the same power that you do. Make use of that power.