Every week for the past few years, I’ve written a blog. Sometimes I write about life, sometimes career, often family, and sometimes my dog. Okay, maybe more than a few times about my dog. I like to write even though it’s not my greatest skill and more than a few people have told me so. I don’t write to prove that I’m a writer. I write because it’s a way for me to creatively express myself, but more importantly because it’s a way to connect with others.

Years ago, when I had my own personal, “What the hell am I doing with my life?” moment, I started to write. I was shocked when I published my writing and other people frequently told me, “I read your blog and it was as if you were talking directly to me.” I felt such joy to hear that because we all often feel alone or as if no one else experiences or understands us. To think that my words, that are an honest reflection of my feelings, helped someone else…that is truly one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Sometimes I run out of topics or motivation to write weekly. Then I think of those people who tell me that my words spoke to them, and I hit the keyboard again. I’ve particularly felt called to write more over the past two years because I see how hard people are struggling. We need each other. We also need to hear each other, to share our fears, our feelings, all of it. Writing does that for me and if it helps others, I’m here for it.

What do you do to express yourself? To connect with others? To challenge yourself? It’s well worth your time to find something that does. The icing on the cake will be that it will probably help someone else as well.

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC