It always feels cliche to say it, but “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is genuinely my favorite book. It wasn’t until I read it the second time that I realized why I loved it so much. My high school English teacher taught this book so well, opening my eyes to the true beauty behind what I always thought was kind of a cheesy story.
I learned to look at how beautifully Fitzgerald was able to transport readers into the scene of what he was talking about, to feel the emotions he was trying to convey, and to get us to fall in love with the character of Gatsby that truly is not so great.
Maybe the concept of the story is overdone, but it will never take away from the words that were so intricately woven together. I’ve always been a word person. I love books, lyrics, quotes, and speeches. I love writing and crafting stories, because words are truly the most powerful thing in the world.
I think this is why I fell in love with Taylor Swift’s music. It was never because I was so captured by the genre or the beat, although they are perfect, it was always the lyrics. It never mattered to me what kind of song she wrote, it mattered that the lyrics were smart and relatable. It mattered that they finally conveyed an emotion that I could never quite put into words.
In Swift’s essay for Elle U.K., she wrote that, “I want to remember the colour of the sweater, the temperature of the air, the creak of the floorboards, the time on the clock when your heart was stolen or shattered or healed or claimed forever.” She was talking about how words have the power to capture a moment, sort of like a picture, and transport people back in time.
When I wrote my first poem when I was younger and cried because of the emotion that the words were allowing me to express, I knew that I had found something akin to love. Writing is my purest, deepest, and truest love. It completely encaptures me in my worst and best moments, and words have had the ability to heal me in ways I still don’t understand.
So when I’m upset over a situation with a guy, I write a song or a poem or a small story about it. When I’m so incredibly angry and frustrated by life, I write it out in a letter and hide it under my bed. My bedroom at home is filled with notebooks that are nothing more than the very best and very worst parts of my life.
I’m lucky, because although I might still be waiting for someone to be in love with, I have found something that I am in love with in the meantime that I know will never leave me. I know I will always be able to turn to it.
I found true love in writing, and I now get to build my life around it. I get to study journalism and write for my school newspaper and HerCampus. I get to go to writing classes every day, and because of this its not hard for me to get up in the morning.
If you haven’t had much luck with love in your life, I would suggest trying to find love in something besides another person. Find love in science, writing, music, comedy, math, magic, or anything you could possibly imagine. It will pull you out of your worst moments and give you a reason to always keep going. I promise.