Over this year and in fact, over many years, I have seen my passion, that is, writing grow, evolve, develop and most importantly, change.

I remember a time in Grade Four when I had written a long essay on nature and those words scribbled in pencil were appreciated a lot by my class teacher. I continued writing and during high school, my teachers often found a sentimental, spiritual side to all the creative writing topics they assigned to me. It was like a general trend for me to simply flow into that realm of energy, meditation, passion or healing whenever I wrote. During the 11th and 12th grades in high school, I was a 'Science' student- I had to focus a lot on Chemistry, Physics or Biology. Still, I continued writing for myself and for the English classes that were a part of my curriculum. During these last two years of high school, I was being academically challenged and there was a lot of uncertainty in my future regarding going to college. During this time, I found myself writing affirmations like, 'Situations around me don't define me.'

When I came to college, the experience was totally different. It was a new life and there were a lot of things to be learnt and the first thing to learn was to step back from my sentimental, dreamy world and focus on the 'real'. I learnt this slowly and steadily.

I have taken at least a few writing classes at college up till now but the most influential class for me is the writing class I took this semester and which is soon going to come to an end, It is one of those classes that I feel sad about leaving.

So, over the years and especially with my experiences at college, I did get my taste of reality vs. dreams and there also came a point where I learnt to manage them both. This soon filtered into my writing process as well and also into the type of media I watched, like movies or TV shows. In fact, this semester, I feel everything is running in a sort of definite rhythm with regards to my writing process. Firstly, the Short Story class I took this semester made me gain inspiration from a Professor whose teaching style as well as a selection of stories to analyze for the course made me realize that writing shouldn't always be simple, straightforward. It should, in fact, generate complexity and try to bring forward tangled aspects, whether they be emotional, political or moral and make the reader analyze, ponder and then come to the conclusion of what the piece of writing actually means.

Last, but not the least, is the second reason why I simply feel so satisfied with my writing process this semester. I have been writing for The Odyssey for about three to four months now and this regular writing has really helped me develop and seriously work on my passion. Writing an article every week, I have seen some of my articles that weren't as strong but I have also seen that the 'writing every week' exercise has helped me build up enough subject matter that I can come up with one great article (according to my standards) every couple of weeks.

Thus, analyzing my entire journey in writing, I can say just one thing, writing for me is a very natural process. The best of my pieces come about only when they have to. However, writing has also been a continuous process for me. I have used it during all my phases of life whether directly or indirectly and with or without any purpose. WRITING IS THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME.