America the Beautiful is about expression. Why write? So I can write the things which can’t be said. It comes easier to me than saying what I feel. Why do something so subjective? I must because it is when I feel alive. Will people like it? I can’t worry about this because it stifles the process. It is expression. It is how I tell my stories to the world. My outlet has become a career. A writer doesn’t want to be seen, they want to be heard and so it gives me the vessel for expression. I would tell anyone to pursue their passions. The difference with pursuing what moves you is how it changes you. I was someone who did the ordinary until something so traumatic happened it forced me into this world of creativity. I write without fear because I want people to hear. There are others like me. Doing what you love transforms you. This was when I noticed everything beautiful. A painting looked at differently. Books became my escape.
It is here that I can do what I love. A place where expression is encouraged. A place which celebrates the arts. A place where reinvention occurs every day. A place of opportunity. A place where you can restart because you want to and not because you are forced to. How does one go from having a job to pursuing what they love? I can do it because I am here, and if I can reach a person with my writing and help them as others have helped me, my purpose has been found. Which of us hasn’t been through something which changes us. A person can live in the past.
They can move on, but books make you look at your world differently. Understanding develops and you know you are not alone. It is here I can write the stories I must tell. Expression moves us. It gives us worlds unknown to us.
I would tell my younger self to do what she loves. Play the piano, don’t ever give it up. I would tell her to draw because I loved it, but I didn’t think it was good enough, but writing… It has been my mainstay and while I wasn’t doing it earlier, I should have been. I would tell this girl not to worry about what others think because you will find your audience. I would tell her to keep playing the music because we all have that one song which makes us want to dance. It is the respite we relate to. A conversation becomes movement with music. Keep the music on, and I have.
I would tell every young person to turn to the arts when social media has become their addiction. Become addicted to what you can create because when you do you won’t want to stop. And the best part. People will look at your art, read your writing, and say, “I should have done this.”
If there is a place where you can express who you are, it is here. If you want to live as an artist, you can do it here. If you want to see every kind of art, you will find it here. The dream is near.
The catalyst for change came to me through art. It pulled me out of something I couldn’t talk about, but this is when I knew. I had abandoned writing as a young girl. It was different and so it made me different. I wanted to be like everyone else and now, I would say to that girl, be different because here you can be.
And as the birthday of America nears, we must celebrate it through happy tears. Say thank you for what we have because we are here. Happy Birthday, America the Beautiful, for my life is plentiful. G&S
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