When I sit down to write, I sit at my desk that was painted black by my mother. Above the desktop computer and past the calendar that is hanging on the wall are quotes that are self motivating. I look at these quotes and I think about how much strength I feel just because of a few words from a peer or a TV show or even an author. These specific words that are stringed together by the thoughts of encouragement were said to lift another person up or to motivate them to be something great, something unique.

When I struggle to put words onto paper I think of one of these quotes. Ernest Hemingway said, “write hard and clear about what hurts.” He said this as a way to motivate the younger generation to write, write about the hardships and to write about the pain that they are feeling. This advice is why I write, because the pain that someone is feeling isn’t for the first time, and it won’t be for the last. The quote sits above my computer willing me to write about my struggles and my pain and by doing this the world can change. A writer can make someone feel the pain and torment they feel, or the confusion and heartbreak. The pain that people feel can be felt by so many different people and not just one individual human.

I write because of this quote, I write in order to extend a hand out to someone in need. I write because I want to be able to let someone know that they are not alone when they stumble through the path of life. I write because when so much pain is felt, often times people feel as though they are alone and that they are the only ones that have ever felt that anguish and suffering and to let people know that they aren’t alone helps them to keep fighting. Suffering from Type 1 Diabetes I try and to share my story in as many ways as I possibly can. Writing is only one of these ways.

Next to Ernest Hemingway’s quote there is another one that says, “You want to be a writer right? You have the potential to be that.” Like the Hemingway quote I look at these words when I doubt myself. By someone expressing their beliefs helps you to live up to your own expectations. By simply having an expression of someone believing in me, helps me to overcome ‘writer’s block’ and to write to the expectation that I hold myself to. By constantly being able to read something that someone else said about how they believed that I could do what I wanted to do. Words live with people forever. Whether they are said or written down words can live long after the person who said them is gone. Words are powerful.