How Do You See Yourself?

I enjoy watching the surprise on a toddler's face when they first discover a mirror.  My boss' daughter comes into the school and walks up to the mirror like it is a magic portal.  I wonder what she sees on the other side?  Hunched over with hands on hips, she will sashay in front of that mirror as if fascinated with who she sees staring back at her.  It makes me wonder, as a writer, who I would see if I looked into that mirror?

 

When I was younger,  I didn't look into the mirror much.  I thought I already knew the person I would become.  I had big dreams and set my course on a path I thought I wanted.  What I did in my day job wasn't as important to me as my writing  and I thought it was enough to simply write every day.  I wasn't focussed on bettering my skills and it reflected in the things I wrote.  But writing was something I thought I couldn't live without.  Writing gave a voice to my feelings when I thought I was alone in the world.  Writing was the barrier between the incredibly shy teenager I was and the confident woman I wanted to become and so I wrote.  I realized I wasn't quite like other people.  I was content with a solitary life as long as I had my pen and paper.  But sometimes life will throw you a curveball.



The ego can be a fragile thing and I listened to those closest to me who said I couldn't write.  That my words didn't matter.  That I didn't matter.  And I believed them because I lacked the confidence at the time to think otherwise.  I put aside my writing.  I pursued other dreams...dreams that were important to me, but not nearly as important as my writing.  But I discovered that if a person is meant to be a writer, the cosmos finds a way to make it happen.  At least that's what happened to me.  I returned to my writing a more confident person who sees I have a talent for this dream I follow now.  My words matter, even if just to myself and sometimes that is enough.

What do YOU see when you look in the mirror today?  Do you see the author you will become one day?  I do!  Do you hold on with both hands to the dream you have of making a difference in the world around you with your words?  Writers have a power no one else may have.  The right word can lift a spirit.  The right word can change a life.  The right word can alter the course of history and leave your stamp upon mankind like nothing else can.  You decide which path you will choose whenever you look in the mirror...