“The words you speak become the house you live in.”-Hafez

I tell my kids all the time that words have meaning, choose them wisely, and use them. Use your words. They can hurt. They can heal. Words are powerful. Storytelling is powerful. They connect generations. They create history. They give hope. They ease pain. They break hearts. They soothe the soul.

I write for many reasons. I don’t write often though. I can only write when I’m inspired, when a thought pops in my head and I know this one needs to be placed on a blank page. This one needs to be fleshed out. Handled and turned over and inspected and stared at.

It’s like bloodletting. I’m releasing for balance to maintain health. I’m releasing hurts or sorrows or burdens or heavy thoughts. See, if I let those sit inside my head as-is, it does me no good. I need to think things through, talk them out, analyze them, feel them, reframe them. It is in this reframing that I can see the lesson, find a way out, see a light shine through, sense a solution or end in sight.

In my head they get big and stoney and silent. It’s dark in there, that head of mine. I need to find meaning. Talking/writing things through helps the meaning permeate my pores and settle into my being.

I don’t want to live in a house of regret or resentment or bitterness or anger or sorrow. I want to live in a house of opportunities, of hope, of empathy, of grace. So I use my words to lay the foundation of my home.

It is not just for me though. Yes, it’s therapeutic for me. But I write to connect with you. Because I know it’s not just me thinking these thoughts, feeling these feelings, struggling with these pains. The details differ, but our sorrows and joys and hopes and fears are universal. I write in the hopes that I can give you words to rearrange the house you live in. I write to create a space for us to gather together, to build a community of connection. These moments of self-recognition and normalizing and feeling less alone in our solitary boats floating through life–these moments of feeling connected changes the undercurrents of life. It humanizes and softens us all a bit. I’m reaching out, by reaching in.

So this house I build–it’s a communal house open for you all. It’s a home of carefully constructed words of my self, welcoming you all to come and connect. A place that fosters kindness and love and grace to grow. It is my words that I use to find meaning in my life. And a large part of this meaning is building and nurturing community. Welcome home.