A Storied Life: how to de-stress

Yesterday was a complete sluggish of a day. I think all of the activities of the past few weeks, on top of the mountain of work I've had to get through, just got to me. I was exhausted. Mentally and physically. So, by two o'clock, I decided to stop pushing myself. I surrendered. Gave in to the exhaustion. And allowed myself to rest.

So, I watched Thursday's episodes of The Vampire Diaries and Beauty and the Beast. Guilty pleasures are the best! Then, I decided to go for a long walk around the neighborhood. And take pictures. As I took photographs to Mat Kearney playing on my iPod, this thought came to me: I used to be a poet.

But, I haven't written a poem in a very long time.

I remember telling a dear friend awhile back that writing a poem is not only about the words and how you structure them. It's not about rhyming. It's about feelings. And to write a poem, you have to allow yourself to feel. Allow yourself to go to this place deep inside of you that no one else has reached, and then pull yourself out of it and allow those feelings to roam around a world you'd never been to, but had always dreamed of and imagined. It's about allowing yourself to see the world in such a way that had never been seen before. Then, sharing it for others to see.

And I realized that although I haven't written a poem, I have photographed poems. And that there is no such thing as I used to be a poet. I am a poet.

I met this writer a couple of weeks ago, and she asked me what kind of story I was working on. I told her I was trying to write a fiction novel. She set me straight, and said there is no such thing as trying to write a novel. You are writing a novel, she said. Own it. You are a writer. It doesn't matter if you've never published a piece of work. Or you never, ever publish a single word in your life. You are a writer.

And I am a poet.