Three affirmations, c/o this week's exercise

Three of the affirmations I came away with from this activity, and in specific the letter my partner wrote me following our conversation:

1. The self-consciousness I carry with regard to my writing helps to keep the writing honest. My concerns around replicating the forms of oppression I may lambast/criticize in my written work will keep me cognizant and critical of how I’m approaching characters, circumstances, and portrayals of both privileged and marginalized sectors in that work. This awareness will keep me committed to developing both my craft and the social/political analysis therein. In short, self-consciousness need not necessarily be a negative.

2. Through my writing, I have the capacity to affect and alter the opinions of those closest to me (read: family), and I shouldn’t underestimate the potential my work holds to afford those with dramatically differing stances on some of the key issues I address (read: family) an opportunity to gain new insights and evolve their own understandings/assessments. In short, though it may provoke some pain to criticize family’s ideological stances in my writing, my words may also provide relatives (and strangers with similar political stances as relatives) an opportunity to shift their perspectives and understandings.

3. Though choosing writing as a career path may provoke fears of lifelong financial and emotional instability, the commitment to prioritizing my creative work is and will ultimately be a much more rewarding path than that of ignoring this passion. My commitment to writing is a commitment to myself, and even if bills may be tough to pay in either/both the short-term or long-run as a result of writing being a less-than-lucrative field (generally speaking), I can and must take pride and pleasure in knowing that I’m working to fulfill dreams, and maintaining my integrity by pursuing my creative vision.

This was a tremendously humbling and humanizing experience/exercise. I gained a great deal from both speaking/listening to my partner as well as from reading/writing the letter. Looking forward to discussing everyone’s processes around this on Tuesday…