Dane Wilson created a song after I posted this post on Facebook from my words. I couldn't be more honored:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." Dickens.

This has been the theme of this year for me (and I have a feeling it has been for many others).

I've felt extreme profound despair and loneliness; I've created and been a part of the most uplifting and inspiring communities of my life. I've gone into a black hole of helplessness; I've risen to heights beyond anything I could have imagined. I've drank myself into oblivion on some nights; I stopped drinking for three months completely. I was the fattest I'd ever been at the beginning of the year; I'm now the fittest I've ever been in July. I've traveled the world to places I never imagined I would see; I've found home again where I grew up and in the city that I live in. I found family and self-realization in dead ancestors; I've reconnected with friends I had long lost; I've lost friends I never thought I would lose.

I've tightened control over many aspects of my life; and I've surrendered to many other aspects.

My family has come through in spades; my community of warrior women have always had a word of wisdom or a shoulder to cry on. Men have shown up in ways that I couldn't have planned.

And through all of this: Creativity has been my bedrock.

The longer I live, the more I know one thing - and that is: creating is the only way I know how to deal with any of this. Destruction will happen. Death will happen. Unhappiness arrives. Laughter dissolves. Bright patches shine through. Flowers bloom. Love hits hard. Seasons move and shift. And yet, through it all - if I'm creating, I'm balanced. If I'm creating, the chaos makes sense. If I'm creating, I have purpose.

And so, I create screenplays. I create novels. I create Creative 13 groups. I create characters. I create journals. I create space. I create photographs of people in love on the metro.

Day in, day out.

I don't know if any of it is any good, but I'm starting to realize that doesn't matter. What matters is the act, the showing up, the intention - y'all can decide what you think of it afterwards.

And I hope that helps others in some way. Who cares if it is good if it is healing and if it changes YOUR life. If it does that, it will change the lives of those around you as well.

So, I guess this is my ode to creativity. I was created, so I feel like this is my way of giving back - to create more. There is too much destruction. Creation is what brings us together. It taps us into one another. It taps us into the universal knowing. To create creates empathy, compassion, love, wisdom, knowing, unknowing and extreme satisfaction.

I've been quiet for a while processing this. More soon...

Meagan Adele Lopez