The Origin of Strength

Unbelievable I know, but I’ve always had trouble expressing myself, especially through writing. Writing is about understanding. I often get stuck inside my head and I can’t get out correctly my story, what I want and mean to say. A brilliant author once told me that writing is a sequencing of words to get at meaning, and when you can interject meaning into a series of words you are making a contribution. One must look for but one word and build upon it. One simple word can open up a story, and the best words imply a story; it is here where the richness lies. Writing is a trial and error process for me, and I’ve learned that my success is not found within the words I throw away, but the words I keep.

My personal power, my strength is a large part of my identity. I have recently learned through my experience with the Minnesota Writing Project and the Young Writers Workshop, that my identity is not choosing who I am, it’s understanding who I am and making the best of it. We are the things we think about. It is easier to choose what is good from what is bad. This is what I mean. This is what I want to contribute, my human story, my emotional truth.

Strength is hard to acquire and is truly only achieved over time. It is ever changing, hard to define, and constantly redefined. However, my strength is what helps define me, today. It is one of my most prized possessions as it's the thing for which I've worked the hardest, clung to the tightest, but could not have possibly achieved on my own. Today my pictures are my words, the ones I have kept, the ones I think about, my understanding, the good. As of current, herein lies my strength, my story, and my eternal gratitude:


In hope for the future, for the success of others in achieving remarkable things.


In finding and knowing pure beauty, peace, and serenity.


In experiences from which I have lived, recovered, and learned.


In my passions, my refuge.


In my friends, my family, my colleagues. Those whom have been unwavering within my perfect storm.


In my mother for always believing in me.


In my father for never believing in me.


In my students for keeping me honest, grounded, dedicated, deliberate, purposeful, and spirited.