If you’ve ever tried to change your diet, whether in an attempt to lose weight or just to eat a little bit healthier, you’ve probably come up against a few foods that you know are good for you, but you just can’t bring yourself to eat. When I first started changing my diet, I felt like I was surviving on the same three or four meals because I was too afraid to try new things, or at least that’s the excuse I was telling myself. (more…)
Finding the Pieces
The story of how a lost boy found home
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Writer’s block is not something that I am unfamiliar with; on the contrary, it’s something that I struggle with often. Most times I come up against a creative wall, however, I am able to break through it fairly quickly. Today, on the other hand, is a little bit different. Not only do I have no idea what to write about, but I don’t really care to try very hard to think of something super creative.
Why the lack of motivation, you ask? Well, (more…)
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Photo Credit: Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net Imagine for a moment that you are about seven years old. No arguing, now, just do it! Are you imagining? Good. Now, you’re running around outside with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood, kicking around a soccer ball, when all of a sudden you hear the dreaded words of the evening: (more…)
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Photo Credit: Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net Ever since I discovered what an online forum was in seventh grade, I’ve been fascinated with the internet and the idea of social media. This may not come as much of a shock to anyone living in today’s world, seeing as how even grandparents have managed to find their way into the realm of Facebook for the sake of keeping tabs on children and grandchildren that live out of state. Social media is everywhere, but how many of us have actually stopped to think “how does this affect my life and who I am as a person?” (more…)
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When I started this blog I wanted to make it clear that it was not going to be only about my weight loss and healthy living. While that part of my life is very important, it is not the only thing that I have ideas to write about, which is why I have been working on trying to incorporate different kinds of posts on here, especially over the last few weeks. That being said, I think right now might be a good time to give you an update on what’s going on with this whole weight-loss thing. (more…)
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Remember when I said that I wanted to start writing more creative pieces? Well, as an attempt to get myself actually writing and not just thinking about writing, I decided that I needed to just sit down and start writing. A more accurate way to describe this “writing” is probably closer to some form of word-vomit. I just opened up to a page in my journal and started jotting down anything and everything that came to mind. Half of it didn’t make sense, and the other half was just random words and phrases that clumsily (more…) -
Photo Credit: Arztsamui at http://www.freedigitalphotos.net What’s this now? A blog post? On Friday? Why yes, I suppose it is! Since school has ended for the summer I’ve been posting on a regular schedule of Monday and Wednesday, but I’ve decided that it might be fun to start making posts on Friday as well! I absolutely love writing, and this blog has given me a platform that allows me to (more…)
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What do you crave? I’m not talking about the late-night munchies, but about real things in our lives that we yearn for and would do almost anything to attain. For me there are a few things that I feel a need to reach or accomplish, but in the end most of those things come down to one thing: knowledge.
When I’m lying in my bed at three in the morning, the things that I’m most likely thinking about are (more…)
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Photo Credit: imdb.com This weekend I went to go see the movie Silver Linings Playbook with my mom. If I’m going to be completely honest, I have to start off by telling you that I was kind of in need of some sort of drama or romance story (I have my moments), and I thought that this was going to be that kind of movie. While Silver Linings Playbook is technically a romance film, it went beyond the usual formula of today’s generic (more…)
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Photo Credit: Jeffery James Pacres For the majority of my life I have thought of myself as a writer. I had an unusually active imagination as a young child (oh the stories I could tell!) and I’ve been putting that love of storytelling down on paper since I was able to put together a basic sentence or two. In grade school and the majority of middle school I focused mostly on short stories and even attempted to write a movie when I was just an angst-filled pre-teen. I even dabbled into poetry and song writing for a few years.
Growing up I tended to focus my skills as a writer on creative writing. The form of writing may have changed periodically, but I had a tendency to shy away from any form of writing that might be seen as “serious.” For some reason I had this idea that if I became too attached to “serious” genres of writing that I would lose my ability to write creatively. I’m not sure what made me gain this notion, but I know that for a long time it was a view that I held onto tightly.
At the time I thought most of my work was absolutely brilliant, though looking back at some of my earlier pieces causes me to laugh heartily at how underdeveloped my skills as a writer actually were. I am more than thrilled to report that my writing skills have improved since middle and high school, but I also know that five years from now I’m probably going to be feeling the same way about the way I write at this moment in time. As people we are constantly changing, continually growing and evolving. I’ve seen this reality come across quite strongly within my own history as a writer, though I’ve just recently begun to really notice it.
Over the last couple years I have experienced the biggest, and probably the most sudden, shift in who I am as a writer. It wasn’t until I started college that I began to fall in love with the previously forbidden “serious” side to writing. Then sometime after my Sophomore year I started to question whether or not my old fear of losing touch with my passion for creative writing was actually becoming a reality.
Photo Credit: http://www.bang2write.com I don’t remember the last time I wrote a song or a poem. I know I haven’t written a short story in a few years. So does that mean that I have lost touch with who I am as a writer? The 15-year-old me would probably have argued yes. The 20-year-old me, however, is starting to realize that it just isn’t so. I may not write as many creative piece as I used to, but I still find joy in writing. I still think of “writer” as one of the biggest defining labels of who I am. Just because the way I write and the form that I write in is different does not mean that I have fallen out of love with writing. I have changed and evolved as a writer, and that’s okay. I still do what I love on a daily basis, even if the way I do it is a little bit different than the way it was a few years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I still love creative writing, even if I am a bit out of practice. But who knows? Maybe it’s time to try to get back into it?
Comment Question: Is there something that you loved doing as a child/teenager that you never thought you would stop doing? Is it ever too late to revive an old hobby/skill? Let me know in the comment section below!
Finding the Pieces 