Words Are Things Turns Two

When I started this website in May 2017, it was for a few reasons. First, I wanted to make my commitment to writing a professional and visual website that people could partake in. Second, I wanted a space to incorporate my love for all art forms, including photography and voice recording. Third, I wanted to create a place that represented the essence of who I was, without me having to open my mouth.

I think I succeeded. I started taking pictures more often, writing more often, and getting attention for my writing. People would text me about something I wrote and at one point, I even had other people write on my website. Throughout my posts, you will see me grapple with myself and my thoughts. Gathering inspiration from my friends, shows I watch, podcasts I listen to (I even started one myself!) and people I see outside. You all have seen me be irresponsible, remember when I lost my phone? Here is that story: https://www.wordsarethings.org/home/2017/7/28/the-repressed-state-of-the-internet.

Or you’ve seen me be annoyed with politics: https://www.wordsarethings.org/home/2018/2/23/the-simpsonsthe-gop-and-the-teenage-media-actors.

You even saw me play around with video and feature my friends on my website: https://www.wordsarethings.org/home/2017/9/17/soundbites-of-adulthood-friendships.

I am still really proud of the creativity I had that week. And to be really honest with you, some of those friends in the last post, are no longer friends. I was sad about it, but now I have accepted it because that’s life right? I am grateful to have experienced them.

Life changes in two years and will continue to change, and I think one of the subconscious reasons I made Words Are Things was to be honest with myself. To have a space in which I explored all facets of my psyche. It was a way to see myself. I am in no way done seeing myself, but I have learned something while having this website, exploring my creativity, and even questioning the ways I use social media.

I learned that I don’t want my life to just be about me. I don’t want my larger purpose or mission to be about myself and how I live my life.

This website was always about my love of words and how people seemed to enjoy it. I would have never made a blog in 2012 if a former friend didn’t tell me she thought people would enjoy my words. See even though my intentions when making this website were on the surface about me, writing and my creativity has always been outside myself. I’ve learned that as much as one needs a brand, my brand is the way I impact people and the ways they impact me. It’s the way I never stop learning no matter how small or large the lesson is. It’s the way that everyone who has entered my life and left it, has taught me something. And I know some people think it is so annoying to constantly question why and how we do things, but that’s me. Take it or leave it.

Now of course, I care about living and money and important things like that. But what I mean is that I want my intention with this website to be all of you. Whether that’s only 3 people who read this or 300 people who read this. I write because it’s the thing that calls me, sometimes I can’t sleep until I write, and its when someone tells me: “I read what you wrote and it spoke to me…” That’s when this website has meaning for me.

So for the next two years or however many years, Words Are Things is a way to always challenge me to look beyond myself. I also challenge all of you to do the same.

There is a quote I love by Dawna Markova. She says: “I choose to risk my significance.” The rest of the quote is on my Quotes That Touch page.

When I first read it, I had no idea what it meant. But after some years I think I finally get it.

I choose to risk my significance, I choose to risk my ego, my importance, my pride, in order to write, in order to impact others. I choose to explore what my life and legacy looks like without me directly benefiting or being in the center of it. I know now that life is less about the big successes and more about the tiny interactions. That in the paraphrased words of Maya Angelou, people will forget many things about you, but they will remember how you made them feel.

So with that, I recommit myself to Words Are Things. I won’t promise that I will write every week, but I will write. Now that this website is more than about me, it feels like the right time to come back to all of you.

*Header image taken by my Iphone in Hampton, New Hampshire