YOUNG & FREE:

What Matters Most?

By CORINNE VANCE

How can something so simple bring me such joy? As I write down just one of the many thoughts that fill up my mind I am overwhelmed with a feeling of ecstasy. As the emotions flow from my spirit through the tips of my fingers its weight is released from me. Being completely exposed, I cry, but I cry because I am happy. Letting go of the ropes that are tied to the emotions I carry every day through writing frees my thoughts and makes me happy. But will it bring me happiness?

Corinne in Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta. Photo by The Delta Bohemian

I don’t write the way I am ‘supposed to’ write. I let my emotions guide my words rather than facts about one more shooting, car wreck, or fire in this crumbling world around us. I use too much description, and I rarely get to the point. I have a long way to go before I am an outstanding journalist. But do I want to abandon everything there is about writing that I love so that I can claim that title?

The way I write is different. I aim to make my readers think and feel with each sentence. I write about things that I feel truly matter. When you forget about all the bull shit, material items and headline news, “we” are all that is left. So shouldn’t that be most important?

The sad thing is that even if I am right, there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s no “emotional writing” courses or “creative writing” majors out there, and there definitely aren’t any jobs. So what matters most? Doing something I don’t necessarily love but living a good life? Or doing something that makes me happy every day and suffering the consequences?

Its rare that a person truly finds what makes them happy. In my opinion, if you ever do, hold on to it because no amount of money can make up for your happiness. Houses, cars and clothes come and go, but no one can take away your happiness.

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