Clutching her little notebook, she rushes onto the bus and scans her metrocard. As she moves past strangers, she finds an open seat and sits down next to the window. She opens her notebook and quickly scribbles her thoughts in her unique poetic way. Someone sits next to her and looks over to give her a compliment on her beautiful pages. The girl smiles and thanks the stranger.

Her stop approaches, she gets up and walks off. As soon as she got home, she pulled out her notebook and began to review what she wrote. Smiling at her work, she felt even more inspired to continue filling the blank pages with her poetry. The night came over the day and she fell asleep next to her little notebook.

She woke up, except now 10 years older and was living a cycle that had no space for a poetic moment. That little notebook she loved so much was collecting dust on the bookshelf in her room. One day, her life turned upside down and she began to reflect on her steps to that point. As tears began to rush down her face, she looked up at her shelves showcasing smiling photos and some of her most prized possessions. Her teary eyes gazed throughout the shelves filled with a physical display of her life and there it was, her little notebook.

Pulling her notebook out of the shelf and wiping off the dust, she remembered what the stranger said to her on the bus. Wiping the tears away, she took this as the moment for her recovery to begin. As she looked back and read all the beautiful entries, along with the beautiful sketches and her photos that accompanied her words; she couldn’t help, but notice that she was missing this part of herself these past 10 years. There were many blank pages left, so she began to write and at first, it was challenging to begin. However, with a few entries, she was back to her poetic ways.

One day, she saw an ad online for a creative writer contest with a first place $5,000 grand prize winner and well, she took a chance on her hidden talent. She felt her entry was honest and real, even inspiring. So, she smiled back at her work and clicked send.

Weeks passed and she forgot about the contest, however she received a notice naming her as the winner! She was so excited and felt that this was the sign she needed to invest in her hidden talent. It was also at that moment, she realized losing herself was the only way to really find her purpose and so, she continued to write in her little notebook knowing she was sharing her talent like she was always meant to.