It is hard to figure out what you truly are passionate about, but when you finally discover what it is, a whole new world opens up before your very eyes. Ironically, I absolutely hated writing in high school, mostly because we were forced to write about things that we did not really have much interest in and on top of that, you had to have 6 pages. When I was younger, I wrote poems, and I really enjoyed that, but that was all I did. Fast forward to when I was in college, I was working for a small business where part of my job description included writing daily blogs. I was able to incorporate pop culture into the blogs and since I loved pop culture, this did not really feel like a task to be completed, it felt more like a hobby that I could enjoy while working. Blogging for this job inspired me to create my own pop culture blog (IlanaInTheKnow.Blogspot.com) and thus, sparked my interest in writing and now, here I am!

I have been blogging for three years and I do not think I will ever stop. I love the fact that I can blog about whatever I want to because it gives me the freedom to explore the internet and learn about new things and expand my thinking. What makes it more exciting is that with the power of social media, people from all over the world can read my writing and I can interact with them. It is honestly such an amazing thing. Because I write blogs and articles, I feel like I have the best of both worlds: I get to write about pop culture/celebrity gossip and then I get to write about personal opinions, thoughts, and advice. Writing for Odyssey has really helped me grow as a person. I have learned that the things that I have been to afraid to talk about are the things that people feel similarly about. It is such a great feeling when I write about something I am dealing with or when I give advice and people respond saying that I put their thoughts into words or that my advice helped them. When you have friends, family, and strangers supporting you, that is when you know that the thing you love doing the most is something that truly matters.

I write because it helps me clear my mind and I can formulate my thoughts better when written as opposed to when I try to talk about them out loud. I write because I want to inspire others and to make a difference in someone's life. I want to be able to share my thoughts and feelings and bring people together to know that they are not alone or that what they are thinking is not irrational. I write because it motivates me to keep doing what I set out to do to and to be successful in my life and accomplish my goals.