The Power of the Pen

I am a strong believer that every person plays a part in the world. If you think a little deeper into this, it’s pretty crazy. The world is a giant puzzle and everybody serves a purpose.

So before this gets philosophical, I am going to stop myself. But I had a pretty powerful realization yesterday.

I have power. What I do makes a difference.

Last week, I wrote a post about complacency. I had this topic written down in my list of potential blog posts for about a year, so a lot of thought went into it. Wasted potential is so annoying to me so a lot of emotions came through in the post.

A couple days later, my friend called me and let me know that she had ended a relationship that wasn’t necessarily horrible but it was no longer serving her greatest good. She came over a little later and mentioned that my post on complacency—specifically a section that talked about relationships—pushed her to make the leap.

A few days later it hit me. My words had helped somebody make a potentially life-changing decision.

People have told me that they were inspired by something they’ve read on my blog in the past, and it was honestly the most touching thing in the world, but the comment a few days ago has really got me thinking.

My words have power.

Thinking Outside of Ourselves: Our Influence on Others

Sometimes it is difficult to think outside of ourselves. I, for one, have the hardest time putting myself in somebody’s shoes. I don’t usually know how to comfort people when they are going through something. Trying to see the world from somebody else’s eyes is very difficult for me.

The best way for me to appreciate the individuality and value of others is to try to see it from a bigger picture.

You’ve probably heard of Newton’s third law before: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Every action of every person has some sort of consequence. It could be good, it could be bad. Either way, it likely effects somebody else.

Here are some examples:

A guy (who probably doesn’t know me) from high school re-posted an ad calling for blogging interns for a business that works with musicians in Miami. I applied for the fun of it, landed the internship and fell in love with writing in a way that I didn’t know to be possible. And now I write professionally.

I posted a photo with a child in the Dominican Republic whose education is sponsored by our organization. A man in Kenya saw my photo and decided to pay for the tuition of children in his community. Who knows what will happen with that child’s life.

I take the day off to binge watch The Handmaid’s Tale and let my client work build up then miss a bunch of deadlines, putting my clients in a tight spot (I would never be this irresponsible, so potential clients, bear with me!). Said clients don’t have their content on time and their entire marketing campaign is messed up and costs them thousands of dollars. We all lose money and don’t make our rent payments, just because I was lazy.

What I’m trying to say is that even your smallest of actions impact others. You may not be able to decide what that impact is, but you can decide on the action.

The Power of Your Creation

Only recently has anybody referred to me as a creative. When I claim that I am not artistic, I get “but you’re a writer!”

I don’t feel like an artist. I don’t feel like I create art. But I guess, to some, blog posts and newspaper and website copy could be considered art.

My words are my creation, since I created them. A painter’s painting is there creation. No matter the message you hope to convey in your creation, it will speak to somebody, and you have to be prepared for that to potentially change somebody’s life.

There are a few bloggers who really inspired me, and will never know the impact that their creation has made on my life.

There are several people who I really look up to. I don’t tell them because I feel weird expressing that (I don’t really know why…I am sure they would appreciate it but I am #awkward).

Whether you write a beautiful poem or make a killer pasta necklace with your toddler, just know that somebody is watching. Nothing you do is insignificant, no matter if it is bad or good.

Let me leave you with this: be mindful because you don’t know whose life you’re going to change.

I’d love to know what you all think about this. Do you even think about stuff like this? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!