I grew up in a tiny town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. My fifth grade class had 35 people. Total. In the whole fifth grade.
Don’t get me wrong — the area was green and gorgeous, and I spent like 99% of my childhood either reading books or running wild in the woods with my siblings.
But there’s a flip side to small towns. When you grow up in a really small community, it’s also really easy to get lonely. To feel like you might be the only one like you. You worry about being alone, about never finding people that understand you or make your heart sing because they get it.
You start to think that you might be different in a way that can’t be solved.
Being scared sucks. Trust me. And no one should go through life afraid to be herself.
But you know what’s great? The world is bigger than 35 people. It’s bigger than 1,000 people. The number of people on the Internet alone falls somewhere between “staggering” and “jaw-droppingly huge”.
I want to share awesome stories and encourage people to be their true, rad selves. So what if you’re different? It doesn’t matter if you’re the only one like you in your family, or your school, or your town. It doesn’t matter if you have psychic powers or change into a bird…even if there’s no one like you, that doesn’t mean that no one likes you.
So welcome to emilyisrad.com! Come read some novels or check out some art. Let’s guard our magic and give each other courage to be our true selves. Let’s be happy and bold and creative and totally rad.
Stick around! It’s gonna be great.
Emily Israd (and so are you!)