How to Be YOUnique in Writing & Life!

The Secret Ingredient to Success Already Lies Within You

One of the most difficult things in life and writing is so simple and yet the hardest to learn: Just being you.

We too often believe that being ourselves is not enough. We believe that if we are like someone else we admire it will bring their world, their success, their friends, their talent, their beauty to us.

It doesn’t. It only makes us lose sight of our gifts because we do not feel as if they are worthy of offering to the world. The more we mimic, the less we forget who we are.

It was hard for me growing up. I got picked on. I was overweight. I loved books and writing. I yearned to be popular. I often made myself the “sidekick” for more popular kids. Where did that get me? Living in the shadows. Doing what they wanted. Being voiceless.

It had nothing to do with my weight. It had everything to do with the internal weight I was carrying: I felt “less than” everyone else because I was too afraid to be me. Some of that was the time, era and environment in which I was raised. I felt paralyzed to come out. I wanted to be liked and loved, but I did not want to be hurt. So I hid. But much of what I felt is timeless. We all are scared to be ourselves. Mostly, we are all scared to be hurt when we are ourselves. Rejection sucks, in life, love, friendship, writing, career.

But when I began to embrace my “me-ness,” everything changed. My life AND my writing.

I believe that writing (creating, being, whatever) is inextricably tied to self and soul. They are intertwined because writing is breathing, writing is emotion, writing is release, writing is salvation, writing is life.