“What books have you read?”
“Oh, you don’t read books that much?”
“How do you write, if you don’t read books?”
I’ve been asked such kinds of questions since the day I started posting my poems on social media. People think that if a person writes that means he/she has to be a bookworm, but in actuality, it’s nothing like that. I’m not much of a reader. I read, sometimes, when I feel like it. Yes, reading does help you to improve your vocabulary, but it has nothing to do with you being able to write or not. I was an introverted child, never spoke to people much, and never used to interact with them, in fact, I never even spoke to my parents about what I felt or what was going on in my head. So, eventually, I developed this habit of writing whatever I had in my head, in a poetic way. There are a lot of people like me out there, who write in order to just vent out what they feel, what they think, and what they’ve been through in their life.
I always encourage and help my friends, or anyone, who tries to write, because the world is already filled with people who would belittle them for their mistakes and would not leave a chance to demotivate them, instead of helping them. I was a victim of this thing, and I know how it feels, but that didn’t stop me from writing, nor it ever will.
I firmly believe, that anyone who has the will to write, can write. There’s no language barrier, all you need is a pen and paper. You’re happy? Write about it. You’re depressed? Write about it. Writing is the best therapy to get rid of depression. I always try to tell people that they’re not alone, they’ve got the best companion they can ever have, their pen. Writing can help people in so many ways. It has helped me to come out of depression. Some things went inexplicably wrong in my life and I had given up on everything. I had no idea what was I going to do with my life. I isolated myself, locked myself in my room, and didn’t come out for days. Depression does this to a person. But then one day I decided to vent it all out, by writing it, because I was not being able to talk to anyone about what I was going through. So I penned down my feelings, my thoughts and you know what? I started feeling better!
Words have the power to destroy as well as the power to heal you, my friend. Use your words, to heal yourself, to heal others, to inspire, to help, to spread love, to spread positivity and sometimes, also to show the world their faces in the mirror, to show what they’ve become.
You’re a knight, my friend, and that pen in your hand, it is your sword. So use it, don’t be afraid, don’t hesitate, don’t you care about those who won’t support you, for you have the power to create something beautiful and you never know, you never know how your words can inspire someone, help someone, for there’s always someone out there, looking up to you. So, never give up, never stop writing.
I once saw a movie a long time ago, “Dead Poet Society”. Sir Robin Williams said an impeccably beautiful dialogue in that movie. I want all of you guys to read this beautiful thought.
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
-Abhishek Gupta.