I have always loved Creative Writing. Since my first semester of the class during my sophomore year of high school, Creative Writing has become a part of my being. I always knew I loved to write, but most of the writing students do in school (as all of us know) is purely academic. The five-paragraph essay and the basic research paper are all too common in education, and while I was very good at writing in an academic style, I really loved to write creatively.

Creative Writing was a class where I could break every single rhetorical rule I wanted to (and I was starting by rebellious stage by this point, so the class suited me), and Mrs. Anderson, who was both my Creative Writing teacher (for three semesters total by my senior year, earning three of my friends and me the title of “veteran students”) and my Honors English teacher my junior year, let me get away with sometimes trying too hard to break the rules and go against the grain.

To be completely honest, I’m not sure how Mrs. Anderson (who my “veteran” friends and I refer to as “Mom Anderson”) put up with a student like me. Like I said above, at the end of my sophomore year, I started to get anxious to be a rebel with a cause. By the end of my senior year, Mrs. Anderson had witnessed me yell and throw a pencil at my best friend (now long-term significant other) in class as he passed in front of her desk (she didn’t even punish me), had accepted my assignments sometimes a day or two late, when they were not quite long enough, or when they were the exact opposite of what she asked for, and had let me sit on top of the heater in our classroom during the winter months to warm my butt while I ate snacks.

** Note: I had really bad senioritis in my final year of high school. Like… really bad. I slacked off a lot. Note to all seniors of the present and future: Don’t do what I did – seriously. **

One of Mrs. Anderson’s favorite prompt formats for Creative Writing was lists. We would make lists about everything. It could be “5 People Who Inspire Me” or “My 8 Least Favorite Foods.” You get the idea. Using lists is a great way to kick start your brain into gear and get the creative juices flowing. Often they can be returned to and can inspire a poem, a short story, or even a memoir.

Before we could begin using the list format for prompts, though, Mrs. Anderson would show us the TED talk from Sarah Kay titled “If I Should Have a Daughter.” In the video, Sarah Kay discusses her organization, Project V.O.I.C.E, and tells the story of using lists to inspire a student who was convinced they could not write a poem. When asking the audience to create a quick list in their head, Sarah Kay prompts her listeners to make a list of three things they know to be true.

Following the viewing of the TED talk, Mrs. Anderson would have us make a list of things we know to be true. We would discuss and share if anyone was courageous enough to, and it sometimes became a really personal experience.

One of my favorite lists in Creative Writing, though, was called “ # Things I Should Have Learned By Now.”

My attitude, under the influence of senioritis, loved this list because it gave me the opportunity to seem very wise and well beyond my years. The still humble and emotional part of me loved the exercise because it requires you to dig down deep and think about every experience you’ve had, happy or sad or even silly, and think about the lessons you probably should have learned along the way but didn’t, either unknowingly or by choice.

I wish I could give you one of my lists of things I should have learned by now from my high school Creative Writing days, but unfortunately, I didn’t bring my old Creative Writing journals with me to college this year. (Some sappy English major I am, huh?) What I will give you is a completely new list. It’s been at least three years since I have created this list last, so it will be interesting to look back and see how I’ve grown and changed as a person. I highly encourage you all to make this list on your own. It’s easy but insightful and well worth your time.

10 Things I Should Have Learned By Now

1. When to say “no.”

2. That I drink too much coffee.

3. To let people in.

4. That I am one of the limited people on this earth that laugh so hard they cry looking at cat memes for hours.

5. That the people who inspire me are those who do so much for others and yet are so humble and grateful.

6. That I am beautiful and don’t have to try to live up to unrealistic standards.

7. That being a woman makes me stronger than any man.

8. Movie theater popcorn makes me nauseated. (But it’s sooooo good!)

9. How to say goodbye to toxic people – especially friends.

10. That it’s okay to not have it all together.

And as a bonus,

3 Things I Know To Be True

1. That everything happens where it does, when it does, how it does, and with who it does for a reason. Trust it.

2. You’re definitely supposed to put peanut butter on beforejelly.

3. That family means more to me than anything else this world has to offer.