Appreciating the necessity of not caring.

Throughout your younger years of life you truly obsess over the opinions over others. You wish to fulfil a certain criteria that perhaps makes you acceptable within school or a community.

But what I'm learning at the age of 21 is that who really cares about what others think?

I know, I know!

This sounds like the corny kind of post that an American hipster might post about living life how you want and not conforming to the restraints of society.

But hear me out.... or don't if you are beyond my opinion and point of view.

Writing.

For those of you who are not aware, writing is what I love to do and want to do as I get older.

What form?

Well any form really. I'm currently finishing up a novel of 80,000 words which I'm co-writing. I've written a short play. I've adapted this into a radio drama. I've written numerous short stories. I've written the first act of my own feature film screenplay. I've written well over 25 newspaper columns for the Croydon Advertiser paper expressing views about Crystal Palace FC. And blogs, if you weren't aware.

So yeah, I've been pretty busy and attempted to communicate through different 'arts' of writing.

But for me to actually post them out on social media and state 'I like writing!' took a while.

I was concerned about others thoughts about it.

A guy that likes to write? That's a bit gay isn't it? (Note: I'm not using gay as a term I deem acceptable, it's just one I've heard used about the idea of writing.)

Well if you think it's 'gay', and I know some of you reading this would have automatically thought this, then that's fine. But you are so, so wrong to think so.

It was only when I hit around 20-21 that I started to not be bothered about whether people knew I liked to express my thoughts through words, whether it be creative or not.

*Bloody hell, this is starting sound like a 'coming out' post. Kind of ironic ey?

There's a level of maturity that you get when begin to finish up uni- yeah even me!

There's the sort of understanding that regardless of what people say or think or do, just do whatever you like to do and not care about what others think about it.

In fact, when I've posted short stories on Facebook or Twitter etc. I've had people message me saying they really liked it. People I didn't even think would have read it. And to me, a guy who simply writes with the hope just one person reads it, let alone likes it, this is so uplifting.

So what am I trying to get at?

I guess to those of you who might wish to write, paint, sing, dance, shout, cry or whatever; just do it and let people know you're doing it.

People will think that it's odd or strange at first but you will find people who genuinely get what you mean.

If you are truly bothered about what people think then ask yourself why.

There's far bigger things to worry about then whether some dick who you never talk to anyway thinks it's strange.

Do that then all sorts of pressure will be released.