Aija Mayrock: An Author Penning Poems That Empower Women
Unassorted lines of script on journal pages were the earliest forms of writer and poet Aija Mayrock’s work. “I was always writing in journals and diaries, and writing poetry, but I didn’t call it poetry—I didn’t really know it was poetry,” Aija reflects. The collections of words and sentences that for so long were only scattered across the pages of her treasured journals gave birth to Aija’s eventual devotion to writing and poetry. Now, at the age of 25, she has published two books, The Survival Guide to Bullying and Dear Girl, and continues to pen individual poems for her growing audience.
Writing began as an outlet for Aija to express her internalized emotions. For Aija, “it was always fun, and it was something that helped me find meaning in my younger life when I was going through a lot of bullying.” Aija, who was often made fun of for her lisp and stutter, turned to writing as a way to cope. “It’s something that helped me find meaning when I was dealing with bullying in school and online; it was always kind of that place I went to to explore how I was feeling inside.” While Aija did not initially think that her words could resemble poetry in any way, a particular experience reshaped her outlook on writing. Her grandmother, who passed away from cancer when Aija was just 10 years old, gifted her The Essential Rumi, through which she was able to both connect with her grandmother and find meaning within the language of poetry. “What was so incredible about it was that all of these passages were underlined or circled for things that were helpful to her as she was dying. To be able to see what resonated with her, what helped her, was just so incredible, and still is to this day.” Not only did Rumi aid Aija’s personal healing process but also he helped her find her voice as a writer. She recalls, “that book really changed my view of poetry and how his poetry transcended time, and I just fell more and more in love with it.” As she got older, Aija continued to read poetry and prose, and soon began experimenting with it. While at the time Aija did not think that she would ever become a writer, she did know that she thoroughly enjoyed the process of poetry. “As the years went on, I kept doing it, and then eventually I began writing my first book!”
Aija’s first book, The Survival Guide to Bullying, was published by Scholastic when she was only 19 years old. The words in her book come directly from her journaling; “I never thought that it would wind up actually being published and that there would be people actually reading it. So, for me, it was kind of like a diary: it was my way of exploring all of the feelings that I had suppressed [for] so many years.” Naturally, sharing her hardships and personal experiences with bullying was a challenging task, but as she continued to write and recover, she grew more and more comfortable with sharing her story. As she did, she stumbled upon another realization: there were others, just like her, who were struggling under the weight of bullying. She recognized that many felt stranded in the face of repeated bullying. Aija recalls, “I began writing this book as my way to, at first, heal and find meaning in my own story. But then I also saw that there were so many, millions and millions of young people, around the world that were experiencing similar issues around bullying, and that a lot of young people had taken their life because of it.” Infuriated by that disheartening truth, Aija decided to use her words to reach those affected, so she penned the book The Survival Guide to Bullying.
Wishing that there was increased public awareness of bullying and its consequences, and ultimately increased action, Aija shares, “When I was in school, bullying wasn’t talked about the way it is now, and I think we still don’t talk about it enough.” Moreover, she discusses the importance of maintaining mental wellness, particularly in today’s digital age. Aija affirms that the rise of social media and digital communication has contributed to decreased mental health in young people, and urges people to take steps to preserve their mental wellness. “I think it’s really important to make sure that you are balancing your time on social media. In my first book, I talk about the importance of taking time away from it, whether it’s deactivating your accounts or setting privacy standards.” She refers to the digital platform as a double-edged sword, acknowledging that while technology can be advantageous in that it offers a platform for collaboration and even mental wellness resources, it can also yield potential negative effects, such as cyberbullying or comparing ourselves to those we see on social media. “These platforms are not going anywhere—they’re always going to be there. Your mental health is [the] number one priority, and you need to make it that. So, if that means taking time away from an app, I think that that is really crucial.”
Aija has taken strides of her own to maintain her mental wellness. Alongside therapy and meditation, she dedicates time for morning pages. “I talk a lot on Instagram about morning pages, which is something that I really believe in, which is three pages, writing by hand, stream-of-consciousness style, every morning. It can be anything that comes to your mind.” Over weekends or during more difficult periods, she spends time offline and engaged with those in her personal life. “I take that time to reassess and to kind of be connected with my inner world, and make sure that I am taking care of myself first before I step onto those apps.”
In August, Aija released her debut poetry book, Dear Girl, which follows the journey from girlhood to womanhood. Aija hopes to celebrate what it means to be a woman, and to highlight in her poetry the strength demonstrated by girls and women alike. “I wanted it to be about the inherent resilience that we all share as girls and as women, and that exploration of all of these different phases of life that so many of us are going through.”
The themes covered in Dear Girl delve into the many hurdles that Aija has personally overcome. “I remember being as young as I was in school and dealing with bullying and different things around all of that, and there were always boxes that came up and there were always labels that people tried to put on each other.” Labels, she has noticed, are everywhere, and she wishes to combat the use of labels to define individuals, whether those labels pertain to age, race, gender, or disability. “I think that almost every young person in general that I’ve talked to has experienced different boxes that they have been placed into or tried to be put into. And so I totally related to that, whether around being ‘too young’ or ‘too old,’ or ‘too this’ or ‘too that.’ That’s been something that I definitely tried to reconcile within my life, and something that I really hope the book sheds light on for a lot of other people that are struggling with that similar journey.” Aija was also part of Refinery29’s Disrupt Aging campaign to eliminate the use of outdated labels and to instill within others the belief that anyone can make a difference, regardless of age, gender, or sexuality. Moreover, Dear Girl addresses her viewpoint on the standards to which women and girls are held in contemporary society, and on ways to cope with various constricting societal norms. Through poetry, she hopes to tackle the implementation of these societal norms across the world and their ability to limit the potential of any individual. “I think that so many young women and girls—and just people in general—are dealing with different types of norms, whether it is cultural, familial, generational. Something that I do talk about in my book through some of the poems is the different aspects of different types of norms that some girls have to deal with, and how to face that and how to kind of come to terms with that within yourself.”
With a rapidly expanding platform, Aija hopes to continue addressing global issues through poetry. For her, poetry is the most effective way to address complicated ideas and issues. “I think that poetry is this really unique vessel of communication where you can tackle things that are heavier or tricky to talk about, or just bigger subjects, through a form of art and writing that can sometimes be easier to digest. At least for me, when I was younger and I would listen to certain music or read certain poetry, I was able to understand things that were really big, broad topics that maybe through a traditional textbook were harder for me to digest.”
Beyond her writing, Aija actively works to raise awareness for issues such as mental health and sexism in society. Through partnerships with organizations like the Crisis Text Line and Philosophy, Aija stresses the importance of mental health and self-care for people of all ages. She goes on to advocate for body positivity and female empowerment in campaigns such as for Summersalt’s Power Suits collection. While each of these projects has been meaningful to her, the process of writing Dear Girl holds a special place in her heart. Aija says, “Dear Girl was really different from anything I had ever done before. To create this kind of art that I was dreaming of creating, of these five sections of a path from girlhood to young womanhood, was a really beautiful challenge. It’s something that I will never, ever forget.”
Aija encourages aspiring writers to be flexible in their journey. “I would just encourage everyone to read and watch and listen to what inspires you and to what connects with you, and then to play with all styles and all voices. Just have a lot of fun and really fall in love with the process.” She emphasizes the importance of learning from and enjoying the process, “Allow yourself to write just for yourself, and keep that writing and cherish it. And know that it’s a process and that not everything you write is going to be amazing—and that’s okay.”
STORY ISHITA SHAH
PHOTOS ANNA ZHANG