Writing. Could’ve been a class you took, could be the papers you’re forced to write, could be a way of life. For me it’s a way of life, and has been since I learned to write. My earliest memory of writing is in elementary school, I had assignments to write stories. Those required illustrations, which was never my strong suit. Wasn’t sure writing was either, until 6th grade. In 6th grade, we had to write children’s books. Mine took up almost the whole empty book, and everyone reviewing it constantly complained, “It’s too long, it’s a novel!” That was when I came to realize, writing is my strong suit.

I’ve done all sorts of writing, for school as well as for leisure and for a release. For school, it was mostly a pain. Because it was mostly answers to something I had to read or write, which more times than not I didn’t enjoy. I only enjoyed writing for school when it was about something I was passionate about. So I kept writing passionately when I got home or before bed. Poems, short stories, long stories and whatever else crossed my mind. It felt good to put it down on a document or paper and read it, sometimes over and over again.

It felt great, which I’m glad I realized early on. Because later on, I discovered anxiety in myself. You can probably guess what I did every time I felt anxiety: opened up my computer and wrote about it. As soon as I finished, the anxiety was gone. I would read over it later, and feel great about the way I handled the situation. That kind of writing is usually dark, brutal and aimed at someone. It sounds awful, but in the end I have my reasons in my head instead of my anxiety. This is a more positive way to deal with anxiety than other ways I’ve dealt with it, like saying my thoughts out loud to someone who shouldn’t hear them or doesn’t understand.

Now, my Google Drive is full of years worth of goals, dreams, plans, thoughts and stories. Some which turned into articles for the Odyssey. I look at my old writings all the time to see how much I grew and overcame. Writing has done so much for me. It’s my tool for handling anxiety, my pass time, my stress release and how I show how driven I really am. I always have it lean on when I don’t have anything else, and I guess it’s just my thing.