I am an eternal optimist. I always (okay most of the times) see the BRIGHT side of things. Ironically, my positivity can be fueled by the very opposite: negativity. It’s not the only impetus for my creativity, but I’m easily annoyed by negative images, words, people, ideas,etc. It’s like a I have a personal beef with the concept of mediocrity– I must crush it. I must win.
So when I pass the bookshelves at Walmart/Target/B&N, the titles (i.e. A Pimp,His Wife & Girlfriend), the imagery and portrayal of women generally disgusts me. When I flip on the TV and see the latest ‘wife’ reality show full of women fighting over absolutely nothing, I get pretty mad.
I used to spend my Facebook statuses and tweets criticizing what I saw happening. I couldn’t understand why it was all so popular. Just like the cliché saying goes “you are what you eat,” I believe if you’re not cautious you can become what you see.
Have you noticed what criticism does to a problem, though? It just fans the flames. Rarely does it truly extinguish the thing. Nowadays, when I think about complaining about the lack of quality this or why do they keep recreating the same lawyer/fake wife/hospital/detective TV show, I ask myself: And, what are you going to do about it?
So I write. I write about imperfect people making decisions. That’s as simple as it gets. I like to keep it interesting without sensationalizing. I aim to keep the language genuine, but clean because my Mama told me so — and the process of conveying anger through a means other than curse words is a pure challenge.
Emotions (love, hate, anger, happiness, etc) are powerful and unless they’re channeled, they’re incredibly dangerous–the good ones and the bad ones. Finding a way to OWN them is an ongoing journey, but trust me when I say there are plenty of crazy things and even crazier people in this world to help you practice.