As my mind ran and journals filled, I felt an inexplicable pull to do something with all of these thoughts, concepts, feelings, and experiences.Â
Navigating my early 20s, reflecting on my teen years and leaving them behind, all in hopes of figuring out who I really am, I knew that despite feeling independent in my feelings, I knew I wasn’t alone. I knew the pages of my journal could be mistaken for the pages of another.Â
With these realizations, during the summer of 2024, Abby’s Anthology was born – my website, portfolio, and passion project. Over the course of the summer until now, I posted poems that I wrote in the past and present all about my love, life, and liberty as a young 20-something.
From navigating friendships and exploring relationships, old and new, to appreciating the intricacies of nature and writing love letters to cities, my poems picked my heart apart, creating community and connecting hearts and minds.
Getting messages like, “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that,” enthused and elated me. I had never felt something like this. I felt heard, and I know my readers felt heard too.Â
I hope to turn Abby’s Anthology into a published book. This project gave me a new sense of courage, compassion, positivity, and power. And I never want that to end.Â
It took a lot of mental encouragement for me to post many of the poems that felt like a magnifying glass on my heart and its deepest desires and secrets. But, writing and publishing poems while creating a brand to match was beyond rewarding. Â
As I moved through the summer months, I felt a newfound confidence and wisdom after working on this project. The lessons I learned made me a better writer, a better person.Â
One lesson I learned is to listen to your gut, and if you don’t, it’ll make itself heard. My poems said things I had never thought before. Writing poetry uncovered secrets and soliloquies that I was surprised to find out were my own. My gut told me to make these feelings public, and I’m so glad I didn’t ignore that pull.Â
Another lesson I learned is that being yourself, identifying with your voice and opinions, is the greatest act of self-respect you can employ. Denying your voice, your experiences, your story, can and will haunt you. Sharing the pages of your journal, the thoughts you push back to the deepest depths of your mind, often may not be as idiosyncratic to you as it may feel.Â
Whether it be poetry, a small business, an organization or anything in between, following that pull to fulfill a passion project, like Abby’s Anthology, can create an invisible string between more people than ever imagined.