An Ode to Vulnerability in My Writing

I fell in love with writing when I began to read. I loved the way authors and journalists were able to have such valuable lessons and life experiences within pieces of art that were so personal to themselves, but connected all of the readers together as well. When I started writing, I wrote for no audience so I never thought there was an impact I could make but now, going into my second year of having this platform I thought about those amazing writers who inspired me and the articles I read now from my peers, and I thought what am I missing?

The conclusion I came to is vulnerability. This fear I have of giving pieces of myself to strangers has stopped my writing from growing beyond the surface-level. Now at first, I told myself that I owed no reader this vulnerability that was so obviously missing in my content and that I didn’t want a personal connection with those who take the time to read what I write, but I realize now that above all I owe it to myself to always be authentic – especially in my writing which I love so much, and to my readers. To those that I know personally and to people that stumble across my writing, I want to connect with you all as much as possible because I know the power that comes with finding someone who makes you feel less alone. I have read hundreds of stories by writers sharing themselves completely with their readers and I know that these are the pieces that move me the most.

So for me, this is the first scary step; acknowledging that I haven’t been completely authentic and knowing that I want to grow and become a better, more open version of myself. I want to write about things I care about, and topics that scare me and excite me. To share my thoughts and opinions as well as my own experiences is something I’m not sure how to do, and the thought of anyone seeing beyond the veil of who I am seems so permanent, you know? The risk of becoming known for something beyond a fun zodiac piece or a review of a movie is exciting, but knowing that the attention I receive could possibly be bad is petrifying. Overall, as an ode to vulnerability and hopes of becoming the writer I’ve always wanted to be, it’s time to open up.

• Central Washington University
• college
• CWU
• HC at cwu
• her campus
• Vulnerability
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• writing