It is amazing how something so important to you can be so insignificant to you throughout your life until you realize it is your calling.
When I was a child, I remember hating reading and writing. I would do everything in my power to not have to read a nighttime story to my mom. Eventually, she sat me down and told me I was going to be smart whether I wanted to be or not. Soon after that, I became accustomed to the idea that either I started trying in school or I got my television taken away.
As my life continued, English was so easy for me but I never thought anything of it, I just thought it was because I was just doing what I was told as a student. Going through middle school and continuing onto high school, I had always maintained a good grade point average. However, my English classes were always the ones I looked forward to the most because I knew I was good at them.
Fast forward to my freshman year at college and I decided to be a Health Care Administration major because it is what my mom did, so I was familiar with the job title. As I went through my fall term, I genuinely did not like my classes and had a weight on my heart because I truly felt it was not my calling.
In the middle of my first semester at college, I felt I did not have any direction due to the uncertainty of my future. I switched my major to communications with the hope that by the end of the year I could find my future purpose, career, or major. Little did I know the following week my life would change for the better.
I was having concerns about my upcoming English assignment, so I contacted my professor and scheduled office hours with her.
That day I went to her office hours is still one of the best days of my life because that day everything slowly fell into place. As I sat in her office overlooking all of her publications I asked her "How did you know you wanted to be a writer?" She looked up and chuckled and said: "I just knew it was what I wanted to do". As she continued looking at my writing she said: "You could be one too you know, just think about it."
After I left her office, I thought and researched all of the options I could have as a writer. Based on the amount of joy and excitement I felt towards being a professional writer, I just knew it was going to be my future. As I continued to confide in my English professor, she helped me gain a direction of what I wanted to do.
I did writing practices and exercises with her, and she gave me the guidance. I bought different journals to practice different genres of writing in because I knew this was going to be a great investment. As the semester came to a close, she wished me the very best and told me the only thing that was going to stand in the way of my writing was my doubt.
Now I am entering my senior year of college as a published writer at the age of twenty.
Looking back now, I am so incredibly thankful I had those formatting issues on that paper. Finding writing has built my confidence and brought some amazing opportunities into my life. I found writing and I chose to make it mine, it has been the most amazing experience and the best part is, it's just beginning.
