It seems to me that in order to write, we need hope. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Hope is a funny thing. It’s not really something we can touch, taste, or feel. It’s something a little mysterious. A semblance of hope can be manufactured, marketed and sold. But honest-to-goodness hope is simple. To have hope means we have something to look forward to, something to live for. Manufactured hope is short-lived. Even religious hope begins to feel a bit too manufactured to me.
For me, hope comes in many forms. Some things I live for include family, travel, and the ability to express myself through creative arts such as writing and music. Yet, these are dark times. Between COVID-19, forest fires, and dark skies full of smoke, life can become dreary. Some days it feels as though the world is coming to its demise.
On the darker days, writing provides me with hope. Although I can’t speak for all creators, it’s my experience that the act of making something new, something that wasn’t there before, brings with it a sense of hope. There is an excitement and satisfaction in the process of creating. It gives the creator one more thing to live for, even when the world seems nearly hopeless.
To me, it’s odd that some great creative writers and artists have ended their own lives. Because even when everything else is going wrong, writing is one thing that I always have to look forward to. For me, writing and hope are indelibly intertwined.
If I were to stop writing completely, then it might be time to worry. – dse
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