It’s just late afternoon, and already dark outside, so I guess it’s November now and October’s #Write31Days challenge is over.

I guess also that I’m a day late with this post, and that maybe I skipped a few days toward the end. I guess I was just busy doing human stuff.

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As I watched my fellow Clumsy Bloggers wrap up this thirty-one day writing challenge, with a mixture of relief and exhaustion and pride, I thought about how much we carry in our words.

With my words, I have given shape on this screen to all the scattered moments of October, all the stumbling imperfect hopeful ways I’ve stretched into my humanness. With your words, you have told me that I am not alone.

I’ve been a writer for a while now, and I am continually amazed at the power that our words have to shape the universe.

Think about it.

Yes, shit happens to us, and we do stuff in our lives. These are the day-to-day ordinary (and extraordinary) realities of being alive. But then there is also the stories we tell — to ourselves, to each other, to the world. And these stories are more than just descriptions of “what has been” — they don’t just describe reality, they shape reality.

The words we believe about ourselves set our course. The stories that we tell each other today create the stories that we live tomorrow.

I’ve been reminded of that again during these thirty-one days of writing. The words that I’ve shared here have been more than just a few sentences strung together at the end of long days (though they have definitely been that too).

Together, these words have changed me, through the simple act of writing them.

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Mostly I want to say thank you. Thanks for letting me use my words, and for using yours so well too.

I am ever so very grateful to be a human.