Does My Voice Matter?

Welcome to my article. Unless you’ve clicked away, you’re reading what I’ve written down.

Headphones. Cheese. Hot girl summer. Hydroflask. Apples and oranges. You’re reading this. Does it make sense? Probably not. Does it matter? No…yes…? Maybe it’s just sounding like nonsense, or maybe you read “Hydroflask” and remembered that you forgot yours at home and you need to go pick it up before work. 

So, you might be getting something out of this, or maybe you’re not.

As a writer fresh into college, I’ve been wondering lately about the value of my words. I wish I could say I feel totally comfortable with what I create, but that’s not true; I’m worried about how you might receive this article. Ideally, I want to write things that matter to readers, and that make people want to click on my headlines. Who doesn’t? I don’t want you to start reading and feel bored. Feel like this is a waste of time. Feel like you’ve been scrolling through so many articles for so long that at this point, every new word you read is eating away your brain cells.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea that value is inherent in every piece of work, from my article to your painting to Taylor Swift’s next song. Everyone deserves a voice. As long as you exist on this earth, you have important, beautiful words to share, crafted by the millions of personal moments and transformations you’ve experienced, by every walk you’ve ever gone on, every soda you’ve chosen to drink (or not to drink), every time you triumphed and every time you fell short.

On the other hand, after I write a particular piece, I sometimes wonder if it really has a place in life. Is it helping someone to reflect or laugh, or is it taking up space? I’m hoping to be relatable here, but what if I’m just swimming in my own head? Is this persuasive and well-informed or barebones and incomplete? After all, writing about your personal opinion is simply marking a moment in time where you felt a certain way. What if tomorrow, I have some grand new revelation about my work’s value — that maybe I DO COMPLETELY DESERVE this writing platform, or that I should GIVE UP ON WRITING in exchange for MY NEWLY DISCOVERED PASSION as a pastry chef? In that case, maybe it would’ve been better to start writing a day later so I could incorporate this revelation into my article. But, you know…deadlines. 

In the end, I’m on this ongoing journey to understand and reconcile the value of my writing. If you’re a writer or a creative in general, you might also be questioning your art’s value. I know there will always be a back-and-forth between feeling like my words work or that they don’t. When I publish something, I don’t think I’ll be able to tell if it’s truly, completely worth it; was there textual room for more thought, more reasoning, more perspective-building? Or was it perfect, full of expertise and golden perceptions that can change a person’s mind — an article that fits cozily into a tiny little corner of Gen Z Literature? 

Well, we’ll just have to see. In the meantime, don’t forget your Hydroflask!