Most of us humans are given something to start with. We are given rubrics for our projects. We are given study guides for our tests. We are given time in order to start our day. And we receive instructions telling us how to live our lives. I wonder how many times people stop to think that maybe it is the act of starting out with nothing that’s so profound.

Well of course, all of us have to start out with something in order to move forward. If we weren’t given rubrics, the teacher wouldn’t get the project he/she was hoping for. If we didn’t have a study guide, the chance of anything from the textbook appearing on the test paper would be unbearable. If we weren’t given time to start our day, punctuality would lose its meaning. Most importantly, if we didn’t receive instructions on how to live our lives, this world would be like an erupting volcano, shooting out an ocean full of lava… burning the things around it.

In Rainbow Rowell’s book Fangirl, Cath’s creative writing teacher tells her something that changed my perspective on life itself. She told Cath, “But there’s nothing more profound than creating something out of nothing. Think about it Cath. That’s what makes a God- or a mother. There’s nothing more intoxicating than creating something from nothing. Creating something from yourself.”

Although, I don’t fully understand what this quote means, or what Cath’s teacher was trying to tell her, this quote clicked with me immediately. It planted itself in my brain. It took me a while to figure out why this quote is so important to me. Why my brain had super glued the words on itself.

One day when I was writing an essay on something that I truly believe in, I found my answer.

Writing.

All my life, I have needed something to start with. I have needed a person. I have needed approval. I have needed dependence.

But when I was given a choice to write an essay about anything in this world that I believe in, I realized that I didn’t need someone to tell me what it was. I didn’t need anything to form that belief. It was all mine, coming right from my heart.

It was created out of myself, and within myself, it was created out of nothing.

The quote from Rainbow Rowell stuck to me because writing is created from nothing. A thought is generated from nothing. And if it’s worth it, it’s inspired into words. And writers like myself, find it worth it to write them down.

Writing is the only thing in my life that I create from myself. It’s the only thing that I have full control over. It’s my thoughts put into words. It’s myself reflected into poems. It’s the whole world looked at differently by others.

I am the goddess to my writing.

Just like painters are celestial to their art work. Just like singers are masters of their vocals. I am a creator of my words. I still don’t quite understand what Cath’s teacher was trying to tell her. I never will. I think that the reason this quote has become my favorite is because I believe there are only a few things in this world that are created from nothing. What I understand and realize now is that creating something out of nothing is profound. And to me, there’s nothing more profound than writing.