love always, kristin

Hi, I’m Kristin.

You may know me personally, have met me once or twice, or you stumbled your way through the internet and found yourself here. Whatever the case – Welcome!

There are a number of things I’m not good at – believe me, it’s a long list – but, I do have two skills in particular that I am quite proud of:

Writing and Storytelling.

Lucky for me, these skills go together well. Naturally, my seventeen-year-old self thought I should make a career out of it! However, many excruciating journalism classes later, I learned two valuable things:

1.) I did not like being told what to write about.

I went into my first semester of college with a good head on my shoulders, an ambitious personality and a four year plan. I majored in Journalism because throughout my whole life growing up, writing came easily to me. Math concepts went right over my head, but I could bust out an A+ essay without a second thought. I dove head first into the journalism track, excited to utilize my talents with words. I soon learned that having strict topics and deadlines drained all creativity out of an art I once loved so much. I couldn’t bare the thought of losing my passion for the profession I chose.

2.) Changing my major did not mean that I had to give up writing altogether.

After I stopped going to school, I did take a long break from writing. I was so sick of it that I wanted nothing to do with anything creative. I didn’t expect it, but I started to miss it. The idea of having anyone read something I poured my heart into was absolutely nauseating. Even so, a small part of me hoped I would one day publish my work rather than keeping it under lock and key.

There is something incredibly vulnerable about spilling everything you’ve felt onto a page just to let absolutely any pair of eyes get to read it. For so long, I was terrified of someone finding a journal of mine and having an all-access pass to my most private thoughts.

Then recently, something swayed me to change my mind.

Every person I have ever met has a different perception of me than the next. After only one encounter with me, I have given different people the impression that I am outgoing, sweet, obnoxious, blunt, shy, loud, and a straight-up cold-hearted bitch.

And here’s the thing – they are all right.

Any given person’s opinion of me is none of my damn business. I have made peace with that because there is so much more to a person than just one quality, more than just one story.

In my short twenty years, I have compiled quite a few stories – some where I am outgoing and loud, some where I am a little more shy and keep to myself. And yeah, some where I am in fact, a cold-hearted bitch.

So here I am, going against my better nature and spilling my guts onto a page for many eyes other than my own. I am putting myself in this position to be judged and ridiculed by strangers on the internet, for one purpose:

to learn about myself.

Let’s face it, no twenty-something-year-old has all their shit figured out. I am no exception, but I’m working on it (quite publicly).

And who knows? Maybe you’ll learn something, too.

So stay tuned!

Because I have no clue what this “too-old-for-a-diary yet too-young-for-a-memoir” collection of words is going to be yet, but I intend to find out.

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Love always,

Kristin