We're college kids. We've been through a lot to get here, and we're going through a lot more to get past here. Everyone deals with that pressure in their own way, and if your experience has been anything like mine, it can be incredibly overwhelming. There have been so many times over the past many years of my life where I've felt completely alone. Like there is no one who can understand what I'm going through. And it's a terrible feeling.
I was never the most social kid in the classroom. I was always different. I did everything I could think of to find common ground with people, but nothing ever seemed to work. I always ended up back at square one.
One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received came from a good friend in high school, who encouraged me to write. I've never quite liked the idea of a journal or a diary — they always seemed a bit cliche. Eventually, though, after a bit of prodding, I took his advice and started a personal blog. Whether he knew it then or not, he set me on to a gift I didn't even know I had: writing. Not five-paragraph essays, not properly cited research papers, but simple posts every so often to write about what was happening in my life.
If mentioning the five-paragraph essay gave you horror flashbacks to a certain high school or freshman instructor, me too. Part of the reason I was so averted to the idea of writing for fun was that I'd never done it before. Every piece of writing longer than a few paragraphs was always assigned to me, the topic chosen for me, and a grade given to me. It was very objective, and that was the last thing I wanted more of in my personal time — objectives. After a few posts, though, I grew to really enjoy writing for myself. It gave me a way to escape the stunted social situation I was always in at school, and it helped me to find my own voice in a way that nothing prior had.
As I became more comfortable with the idea of "letting it out" through my keyboard, I began to share the post links with some close friends, who always encouraged me to continue writing. For the first time, I had found something in my personal life that I was good at. I wasn't an athlete, I wasn't a stellar student, and I wasn't the most popular. But I was a writer. I wrote about everything — successes, failures, and just about everything in between. Some nights, I'd sit down and write just for the sake of writing, with no purpose or intent at all besides putting words on the page. There was something incredibly therapeutic in that.
As I began to think about what I wanted to do with my life, I never gave much thought to writing. I'm a thrill-seeker at heart, and I've been an aviation fiend for most of my life, so when the time came to pick my major and my school, I chose aviation. I had no idea where it would take me, but I knew that any possible path, as long as it involved being in or around airplanes, would be something I would love. The path has changed directions a few times since my freshman move-in, but I've never been more content with how it has worked out. I've continued posting to my personal site, and I've begun to dabble in writing at my job as well.
A few months ago, I followed another friend's suggestion and began my time on Odyssey. I bring an unconventional side to the table as a writer here, but I'm a strong believer that there is nothing at all wrong with unconventional. I joined Odyssey to share my story, hopefully, to be a positive encouragement to those of you reading — there's nothing wrong with being different.
Being different means that you are you, and there will never be anything wrong with that. It will be difficult, there will be times where you feel alone, but I promise you that you're not. I highly, highly encourage every one of you to try writing. Maybe it will help you as much as it has helped me.
