Words

As a general rule of thumb, I have always believed words to be my most powerful asset. Of course, I believe that, I am a writer. I believe that I have the opportunity to impact lives, change minds, create perceptions, and take away loneliness all through words. What are words though? How do we define their relevancy in our own world? They are this abstract channel that influences so much, without really influencing anything at all, unless we allow them to. 

Unless we allow them to. 

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life. Good friends reminding me that we all make mistakes, and the best thing we can do is learn from them. Who has heard that before? Pretty common breakup line, but this time I was thinking a little bit more about it. Think about the last big breakup you went through. Do you remember that debilitating madness that was a masked desire to break things, shout into a pillow, and drink a lot of wine? No, the point of this is not to make you think about your past relationships. But think about how tough we had it! Why did this happen to me? Why doesn't anything ever work out for me? We get so caught up in things happening to us, that we forget that things happen FOR us. How much more clearly could we see the benefit of what happened for us if we analyzed and accepted that we made the mistake, if nothing else, to make certain that we did not make that same mistake again. 

Some of the biggest mistakes we make (or at least us writers...and Taylor Swift) in relationships all has to do with words. Listening. No, not listening to our significant other bitch about work, that is going to happen regardless of whether they are a man or a woman. But rather listening to the sweet nothings we fantasize in our childhood love stories. The little words of love that seem to move early relationships forward, (before the pure enjoyment of silence sets in). 

Some of us put more weight in those words than others. Maybe you call those people naive, but I think most of us are just looking to paint a picture of our ideal love.  What have I learned though? Words are just the outlining of that picture perfect life. They are the small scratches of boundaries that make us feel confident and comfortable in a relationship, but they don't fulfill us in 

the long run. 

I don't know that there are many people out there who have the ability to add color to our sketches. Maybe the right ones, which clearly (illustrated by the subtle bitterness complex I put out into the blog-sphere) I haven't found. 

Basically, at the end of the day words are just words. You can't touch them, they reach your soul but they do not add color to your life. You cannot feel words, they won't keep you warm in the dead of night, and they can't pick you up when your car breaks down. Words are the fluff, they are like eating candy for every meal, they are literately delicious, they give you a momentary feeling of euphoria just before the sugar pulls you into a coma. 

Writers give words so much credit, and in a lot of ways, they are pretty amazing. But they are nothing without the emotion behind them. And in the real world, they are nothing without the actions to speak alongside them. Words are not meant to sustain us. That is what I have learned. I am not bitter about the things in my life that have ended and I don't resent words for the pain they have brought me, but I do recognize that they are only one part of a much bigger picture.

Words are a writers most powerful asset, but they are also their most threatening downfall.