When Life Gives You Hell, Grab A Pen and Paper

I hate you! Don't ever speak to me again! Stay away from me! You repulse me! How
could you do this to me? The words we use in anger can be powerful. Though they may be vile and sometimes a little too harsh, when we (writers) let our frustrations out onto a paper it is as if we have become a new person. Who are we writing to? Anyone we please (though their eyes may never so much as glance at the page). Why do we write down these frustrations? Saying them aloud will do nothing but offend the people around us or make us appear as lunatics. As our pen angrily stabs at each word and occasionally rips the paper, we start to leave our emotions on the sheet before us and not on our hearts.

We take these frustrations out on this innocent sheet of paper and pen because it is the only way we know how to release our tension. People will almost always judge us for what we think, but what will paper do to us? Stop speaking to us? “Defriend” us on Facebook? No. Paper will always be there for us no matter what. It accepts our words-the good the bad and the ugly-and gives us a time and a place to analyze and organize our thoughts. Paper will never delete your number or tell your friends “You'll never guess what she said!” Raw emotion is always best laid out on paper, whether it be balled up in a wastebasket or turned in for an assignment.

People today are so self conscious about what they say or do because they care too much of what everyone thinks of them. In the words of Dr. Seuss, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.” We must begin to think like Stephen Crane and release our troubles without holding back. Though we may not share it with the world, it is still out there somewhere.

So next time when you want to let out your frustrations, don't take them out on those around you or a poor helpless wall. Share them with a tree and some ink, because good times and bad, they will always lend you a listening ear.