Finding the Words... and Setting Them Free!

I write for a number of reasons.

I suppose I should put "love of the written word" at the top of my life of "whys," but there are many.

As much as anything, sometimes the written word is the only way I can distill and crystallize something I am trying to express; usually something with distant memories and deep emotional content.

The thing about feelings is that they tend to be fluid and constantly in motion... writing them takes a "snapshot" of sorts; a capture of a fleeting moment that rises... and then falls away again.

In some ways, I write in much the same way other people perhaps meditate, or go for a 5-mile run, or go to work on a punching bag.

I suppose the "habit" started — when I was a teenager — because I didn't have anyone to talk to that I felt safe with. That is, safe to feel vulnerable and open with... so I turned to the written word on a page.

Maybe it was not surprising that writing became my catharsis; my therapy. After all, "boys weren't supposed to feel."

I remember sitting in my little room, wishing for... wishing for a girlfriend I could actually talk to and lay myself open to, but it never happened. The world has been trained to fit within certain "norms," even if it makes claims to the contrary. It was true back then; it seems (sadly) to still be true today.

People give a lot of lip service to the idea of being "truthful" and "emotionally authentic," but most people run in the opposite direction when they encounter the very thing they desperately wish for.

We like and crave a lot of things "in theory" but shrink back from them, in reality.

In a strange and twisted way, it reminds me of my former marriage, to someone who loved the idea of me, but not the actual person, me. I don't blame anyone... society often urges us to chase ideals rather than realities. It's funny how you can "check all the boxes" for someone and it doesn't actually matter... if the "X factor" isn't present, you go nowhere.

I think about love and how we experience it often; for the last few days, quite a lot, after reading @soulfuldreamer's recent post o the topic..

While I have always been a dreamer and an idealist, I have also tried to be pragmatic... even when it has felt like it was to my detriment... at least in my heart. Is it really "right action" when your integrity outweighs what your heart and soul is literally screaming at you to do?

I tell myself that it is was.

Do you have any choices made in your life where you often wonder how your life would have turned out, had you "gone left" instead of "going right," at the time?

Life is what it is now. Dwelling on the "what ifs," no matter how much an opportunity foregone might plague you... doesn't lead anywhere. Except maybe to prolonged heartache.

Someone once asked me if I believed in "Love at first sight."

Yes! But no, not exactly.

I believe in... something at first sight. If we end up truly being in love with that person, we "back fill" and characterize that instant lightning strike at "love," even though it wasn't really at the time.

Except, sometimes...

Maybe there is some kind of genetic wiring that processes pheromones, scent, sound, touch and that X factor and once in a million encounters everything falls into place at exactly the right moment, for both people.

I do know someone who proposed to his wife 17 minutes after they randomly met. She said yes and (allegedly) added "what took you so long?" and they've been together for 23 years, as I recall. By most measures "a fairy tale" we should not aspire to. Nonetheless, true.

The beauty about writing — to get back on topic — is that I can be that dreamer part of myself in writing, even if it doesn't hold up (functionally speaking) in the outside world.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Sunday!

How about YOU? Do you use writing to express things more clearly? Do you find a sort of "therapy" in writing? Do YOU believe in "love at first sight?" Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2025.08.10 02:32 PDT
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