The world can be a very dark, scary place. However, it is also a very beautiful place full of amazing things.

Toxic positivity would tell you to ignore the bad parts of life and act as if they never existed. This is simply unrealistic, unreasonable, and damaging to our mental health. Nobody is ever going to be 100% happy 100% of the time.

That's one reason why it's so important to find your passions in life and embrace them. Finding a passion can create a ladder out of a bad situation or state of mind, lead you to finding community, allow you to express your full range of emotions in a cathartic way, and so much more.

Writing saved me

I literally don't remember a time when I didn't write. Even before I could physically write, I would make up stories and tell them at storytime if I thought I could do better.

I love writing in just about every genre: poetry, essays, fiction, non-fiction, lab reports. The only time I don't enjoy writing is when I don't enjoy the subject!

When I was a teenager, my health issues were more vicious than when I was a kid. I struggled with my physical health (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever AND mono in high school, especially), but also my mental health from OCD, depression, the loss of a close friend, toxic relationships, and bullying. Being a teenager was extremely difficult and I didn't know if I would survive it.

I wrote to process my feelings. I wrote notes to the ones I lost. I wrote to create something hauntingly beautiful from everything I had to endure. I wrote to escape from my troubles and into a world of my own making when it was too much.

I was encouraged to share my words with others and they resonated with others. My words got me scholarships, awards, and recognition. When I would write to persuade others to listen, they did.

My words held power.

Now that I have discovered this power, passion, my voice, I have thrown myself into it. On my darkest days, I write. When the world gets tough, I can once again throw myself into writing - I have done it during the worst times of my life and came out alive, fighting, and stronger.

A soul trade

Yusef Ibrahim had a rough childhood. When he needed something stable and secure - music was there for him.

He'd always liked music, but he began to really throw himself into it after listening to the musical score from the Final Fantasy series. He'd get lost listening to it and began to try to piece it together on the cello (and later, keyboard).

The feeling of creating music was transformative to him. It allows him to feel and process the full range of emotions.

“There is a piece of music for every emotion.”

In a world that wasn't kind, he could feel triumphant in himself and escape from the darkness. It gave life value and beauty. Music has been the greatest gift he could have been given. With music, he was able to attend college and further his talents. But, most importantly:

“Music has given me a soul trade- an expertise and knowledge in a thing, music, that gives my life and pursuits value. No matter where I am, what I'm doing, and who I'm with, I know there is value residing in my thoughts and my hands and my voice. Nothing could take that from me”

Yusef is currently a cello performance student and enjoys creating cello covers in his spare time.