After what seems like a century of not writing my weekly articles for the Odyssey, I am finally back! If my articles clog your feed, I’m not sorry at all; but to my faithful readers, family, and supportive friends: you are an incredibly important part of why I’m sticking with this.
My 2 month hiatus, due to a variety factors, was a difficult period. I spent a lot of that time complaining about how much I missed my leisurely writing every week, the quiet time I used to express my inner thoughts informally to spark discussion. Most of my friends stare at me in total confusion when I say such things. Why, with all my other commitments in life, would I choose to spend 3 hours every Friday...writing?
Unfortunately, going to public schools where writing was more like a punishment than an opportunity, I also learned to hate it. I still remember in 4th grade when I wrote a paragraph about "my fun summer," a typical elementary school prompt. My writing was entirely loose and unstructured. I let my thoughts flow freely with innocence and ease as children often do. My teacher coldly instructed to rewrite the story with the "proper paragraph structure." I soon found out what that meant: a topic sentence, 3 points with evidence, and a conclusion. Paragraph number 2: a topic sentence, 3 points with evidence, and a conclusion. Repeat. Knowing a lot of my peers had similar experiences explains why I’ve met so many who don’t enjoy the writing process.
So how did I change? How did I break the conventional structures of writing that were pounded into my brain my whole life? How did I find joy in something which so many find painstaking?
I’m sorry to disappoint those of you who are seeking a concrete answer because I truly don’t have one - but I can tell you bits and pieces. Part of it was finding Odyssey. The moment I broke away from writing analyses of classical liberalism and biology lab reports, I found a whole new space for exploration of myself and the world around me. My writing profile ranges from discussions regarding racism to sexist microaggressions in the workplace and the recipe for a perfect Bollywood romance. Writing leisurely allows me to dissolve a little of my inner perfectionist. For school, you write with precision and clarity because "the grade is the goal." But in this new realm of writing, there’s an unconstrained freedom for expression without fear of penalties. There’s no ulterior motive for me when I write for Odyssey: I don’t write for a grade, and I certainly don’t do it for anyone but myself.
I’ve also found pride in my writing by making it personal. “Never use the first person when you write,” was a common instruction we heard in school. Obviously in academic works, being objective is highly valued. However in our aim to be extremely objective and detached, we create a deep disconnection between our writing and our identities. Suddenly that 500 word piece before you is just words, an impersonal array of statements splashed without feeling onto a page.
I keep reliving that liberating experience I had in 4th grade as I write this. I long for that untainted and unconstrained flow of thoughts which, at that time, I fearlessly translated onto the page before me. In our attempts to save ourselves from drowning in rules, structures, and conventions, we must never forget those beautifully unrestrained moments when our genuine selves shone through.
