I've had an account on this website for a little over 9
years now.
It's weird to think that the dominant culture of the
Internet now were preschoolers and elementary school kids while
I was spending hours coding, reading stories, chatting with
friends, and expressing my teenage angst on this site.
I don't even know if younger teens today would even be
interested in a site like this.
Either way, this site has deeply impacted me in ways I
didn't even realize until recently. If I had never gotten
into Witty, I'd probably never be interested in code and
think it was too complicated (and it can be complicated -- but
the products of coding can be very rewarding).
I'm at a bit of a crossroads about my career path right
now, and thinking about the time I spent on Witty and Tumblr
coding has me thinking about getting back into it.
And even more so, if I had never started using Witty, I would
have never discovered how much I love writing and creating
stories. I liked it even before I joined Witty, but reading
some of the stories on here (that seem so cheesy and cliche
now) sparked so much joy and imagination in me that I began
creating worlds on paper so vibrant and vivid as if they were
real. My biggest dream and goal in life is to become a fiction
author and turn those books into films. I hope to make a living
off of just that someday, but for now, I'm just trying to
find a plan B.
So much has changed over nine years, but so much is still the
same. I guess I expected more to be different. I guess I
expected life to make more sense and to get easier; it
didn't. In many ways I'm proud of how far I come, and
in some ways, I kind of expected myself to be further than I
am. I don't know if 13-year-old me would be proud of me,
but I think she'd be surprised that I was able to make it
past 18. I think she'd be disappointed that I don't
have a solution for who I am, but at least I have an
answer.
Going 22 years without knowing that I'm neurodivergent has
taken a huge toll on me and robbed me of so much of my youth
and so many opportunities. Logging on and reading old quotes
unlocks emotions I didn't know I still felt and hurt I
didn't know I still harbored.
I don't know how many of you will, but I'll certainly
remember this site in another 9 years. If this planet lasts
that long, I'll certainly log back in and update you all on
whether or not I managed to find a hack for my oddly-wired
brain. I hope I can make bigger and more meaningful changes in
my life during this next decade minus 1 year.
Peace!