Prologue: In Which the Writer is Introduced

I've spent years writing near-daily posts for my livejournal only to realize that I've ceased to write for the sake of writing. And that I'm at a point where people expect me to feel a certain way all the time, to mask my emotions in consideration of everyone's comfort. I've even been asked outright to delete posts or re-write certain passages. Before long, I stopped writing entirely, even down to my poetry; the most people ever got from me was a paragraph in an email. It hurts. It's not me. I never learned to bottle or hide my emotions until recently, and I feel like I learned it out of necessity to keep certain people around me.

So this is a journal by me, for me. Others may enjoy it as they will, but I will not let it become a simple communication tool or a place to collect friends. I need to get all of my thoughts down for my own sake. It is a place for personal reflection, for poetry, for hope.

I deserve to give myself this.