Ever since my writing "career" (I honestly don’t know what to call it these days, but even that doesn't seem appropriate) took off last year, I've received comments from friends and family on the content. Though I've received tons of great feedback and compliments on some of my work, there are some people in my life who are more concerned about me bearing my soul to the world rather than being excited for my success. I found these comments, such as "Maybe you shouldn't have published that since it's so personal," or "aren't you worried about how others will react?" started to bug me more than they should have. Then I had a thought: Who the hell told you that I was writing for you, or anyone else for that matter?

Yes, it's very common that writers write for an audience, but it isn't the case for every one of them – and it's not the case for me. Plenty of writers do this as a career, the primary and/or only way that they make a living to support themselves and their families. Writing is their life, their means, and is directed at a certain audience so as to sell millions of copies or receive millions of viral views. The only person I write for is myself, and that's the way it's always been. For me, as I'm not a journalism major and not looking to make this into my permanent career, the only reason to write is to make myself feel calm and flush out my thoughts into what I hope are coherent and somewhat interesting articles. If they're not, that's cool too. But still, somehow, people are bothered by that.

Of course it makes me happy when others enjoy the work I publish on a weekly basis. I love it when friends and family mention out of the blue how they really loved my latest articles, or those random Facebook messages from people I haven't spoken to in a while mentioning how they were actually able to really relate to something I wrote. Especially when it's something I feel that I worked hard on or a piece I'm especially proud of. This is nothing but an added bonus, a tiny boost to my ego, but not what keeps me writing. My sanity, my stability, and my love of this specific art form is what has pushed me to continue writing.

So yes, my work will continue to be personal, and raw, and probably not completely grammatically correct. I'll continue to push the envelope and voice my opinion. I might tell stories that others may feel uncomfortable reading if they know me on a personal level – but that's okay. I'm not writing for others or to receive millions of views on a viral article. Though these things are nice, I don't need them to be content with my writing. I'm content with my writing because it's for me, and I will continue to appreciate the fact that I have something so special and therapeutic in my life.