And so, we have lift-off

With these words I commence my journey into the blogosphere. What can I possibly say that hasn't yet been said? Are not my own thoughts and opinions the thoughts and opinions of millions of others? Well - in a word - yes. It is for this very reason that I have shied away from adding my voice to the cyber-verse (with the exception of a brief spell back in the wonder years of MySpace). So why this compulsion to start blogging now? Because I have to. I need to. Writing is all I've ever wanted to do, and yet I've suppressed the urge with countless excuses. I can't write. I'm no good at it. I have nothing new to say. Who would want to read my words?  But as I sit here, experiencing the personal hell of yet another severe depression, I realise that I have to do it for me. Yes, my thoughts, opinions and feelings are not unique - millions of people think and feel the same way - but what I must learn is that it is I, Lara, who is unique. My bleak view of the world and humanity has lead me to consider life as meaningless, and my being one in seven billion has further served to exacerbate my feeling of overwhelming pointlessness. But - and I have only come to accept this today - there is only one me and that me has a voice. By suppressing my urge to write all these years I have not allowed myself to find that voice, such a fundamental part of one's psyche, not least mine. It is no wonder I have lost my way time and time again. Without a voice, I am nothing, I am no one. And so, it is in the silence of this room, this room of my own (thank you, Virginia Woolf), that I must find my voice and strive for catharsis, arranging onto a page the cacophony of thoughts and emotions, of opinions and ideas, that rattle away in my head in order to find...well...to find me. 

Expect life, death, love, hate, happiness, depression, opinions, descriptions, fact, fiction, letters, prose, poetry, rants, reviews, links, humour, swearing... Some good, some bad. Probably mostly bad really, but you have the choice to close that there window and go watch a cat making funny expressions on YouTube.