Why I Wrote Wise by Nature

When I was sixteen, I had a compilation of poetry sitting within the realms of my notes app, Google Drive, notebooks, and other assorted folders. Being heavily influenced by Taylor Swift, I knew I wanted to retain the rights to my own work and self-publish my work rather than go through an agency. Following my typical unorthodox mindset, I began the process of marketing, editing, compiling, and producing my first book.

Writing has been a coping mechanism for me since I was nine years old. I grew up in an atypical and dysfunctional household, and I utilized writing as a cathartic release as well as a method to process big emotions. Being an only child, I didn’t have anyone to speak to and vent my feelings to, so I had to find a way to process the brunt of it on my own. 

I was introduced to poetry when I would google a string of my feelings and look for a solution. In 2016, my search history contrasted greatly from my friends. I searched for answers to fill holes in my life, such as “Why does my dad work all the time?” and “Why does mom drink so much wine?”

Although I would hit dead ends most of the time, answers came to me in the form of slam poetry. I found people describing circumstances similar to mine in metaphorical language that enchanted me, applauded by snaps. In seventh grade, my English class had a poetry slam and I was voted in first place, awarded with a voucher for a cookie from Panera. I knew that day that I found my “thing”. The thing that would capture me for years, the thing I wanted to spend my life doing.

After this, Wise by Nature was born. Slowly over the next five years, I wrote about the issues that plagued my mental health in my youth, such as my mom’s circumstances (maiden name Wise), my dad’s declining health (to put it lightly, but Perspective discusses this in greater detail.), my own mental health issues, and other assorted topics, and reflecting on how they made me quite mature, or wise, by the time I was only sixteen. My 90 page reflection on my youth is out now, wherever you buy books. 

-your wise blog author