During the second half of my freshman year I was on Facebook, probably procrastinating my homework, when I came across a post inviting people in the Regis University community to write for this website, Odyssey. I stopped my mindless scrolling and actually looked at it, thinking maybe this would be a good opportunity to get my voice out there because you can write about whatever you want every week, as long as it is 500 words. Then I closed Facebook and thought about filling out the application, but that was all I did for a while. I just thought about it.
Then I found out that the friend I sat next to in Spanish class was the editor of the group of Odyssey writers at Regis. She kept telling me that I should apply to write for it. I sat on this for about two weeks; I kept opening the application, starting it and then deleting it. I knew that I wanted to do it, but could not get myself to finish the application.
I am still not really sure what got me to actually fill out the application and send it, but when I did it was scary and wonderful all at the same time. I was convinced that I was not a good writer and that they would not accept me to write for them, or if they did that no one would ever read my articles because they would be pointless. Then I wrote my first one and found that I was wrong, that people read them and wanted to hear what I had to say. These feelings made me want to write them even more, and pick topics that the people reading them wanted to hear about.
This was one of the best decisions I ever made for myself, because it forces me to write about something that I love, something that I want people to read and pay attention to every single week. Some days, when I was on campus, people would come up to me and give compliments on my most recent article. Those were the days I was walking on clouds. I would walk away with a huge smile on my face. I would think about it randomly throughout the day and I would smile again.
This is the message I am trying to get across to you, do whatever you are afraid to do because it is terrifying before it happens. I realize now that I was scared to fill out the application because I was scared, because I thought no one would want to hear my voice. All it took was a little bit of courage. But once you do it, there is no feeling like it. So ask out that person you think likes you, share the short story you have been scared to share, go skydiving even though you are afraid of heights. Do all of these things that are holding you back, because once they are not there to block your way forward you can do anything you want.
