what writing reveals

why finn called it 'pen power'

arftist: odilon redon. figure carrying a winged head. circa 1876

writing to you here has become an obsession.

but in the best of ways.

there is something magical about putting words out into the void.

they have a way of uncovering what we didn’t know we held buried.

maybe one of writing’s greatest gifts is that it allows us to see who we truly are.

at first you might think that you are writing for the world.

but then you begin to realize you’re actually writing for yourself.

that’s what happens to me, at least.

i write about…

what i believe,

what i’m becoming,

what i’m healing,

and what i’ve discovered it all means.

putting words down on paper is powerful.

and being seen is exhilarating.

“pen power,” finn once called it.

it was written in a note that fluttered out of one of his old journals.

a journal that lives in our crawlspace.

thankfully, these pages don’t live underground.

that is the beauty of writing here.

yes, many are scared of baring their souls.

but not here.

we may fear exposure,

but we lean into the discomfort.

because courage isn’t the absence of fear.

it’s choosing to move forward anyway.

to leap off the ledge of the known and set the soul free.

so many huddle on the cliff edge

in a lifetime of cold comfort.

but not the ones reading these words,

and not the ones writing their own.

once you begin telling yourself the truth, it rarely stays on the page.

sooner or later, it begins asking questions of your life.

questions you can no longer ignore.

once you see...

you can’t unsee.

the words that cut against you,

the promises that were never kept,

the places where you abandoned yourself in the hope of being loved.

sometimes family is who we choose.

the people that make home feel soft instead of sharp.

and we only learn to recognize that kind of home after we become one for ourselves.

people change.

or maybe they don’t.

maybe you simply begin seeing them more clearly.

and that changes everything.

because somewhere along the way

writing becomes a way of finding yourself.

and that is the beauty of an open journal.

not only that others get to know us,

but that we finally do.

thanks for being here.

~venus

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i’m a writer, speaker, and musician. i explore what it means to be human through the lens of trauma, neuroscience, and spirituality. i write to help us reclaim who we are beneath our survival. if you’re on that journey too, welcome.