If you know me personally, you know that a few months ago I switched my major to English. It was a huge transition and a total 180-degree turn from Biology. The transition was fluid and easy and I couldn't be happier. I love writing, reading, literature, editing, journalism, the whole nine yards! Seriously, I should have majored in English in the first place but that's another story. I decided to do a two-part series on why I write and why others should write. I hope this encourages you! This is part one: why I write!

If you would have asked me in middle school and early in high school why I write, I might have told you something along the lines of because I have to. Papers were a regular thing and though I enjoyed what I was doing, I was only doing the minimum to get by. I was just doing what I had to do to get a grade. But, as senior year and the first couple of semesters of college came around, I realized writing was something special. Writing, for me, became about so much more than a letter grade on my report card or on a final.

If you know me in any capacity, you know that I am extremely shy in general terms. It takes a lot for me to make conversations sometimes. When I started taking my writing seriously, whether academic or not, it became something that I could use to express myself. Though I couldn't get a whole lot of things out audibly, I could write them down on paper or in a word file on my laptop. As cheesy as it sounds, writing sort of opened up a whole new world. *cue Aladdin* I began to become less and less fearful of what others thought of me. I began to, little by little, come out of this shell I created. I'm still working on that but progress is good!

Since I've discovered my true passion for all of these things, I've felt that I have a greater influence through my writing. I would have several friends and family friends that would grab me after they saw an article I posted on Odyssey or a blog post on my blog telling me how much they liked it or how much it helped them. It was a huge confidence booster to hear that my writings actually benefitted someone.

Having any kind of influence on other people is sort of easy to have these days. I mean, look at society and technology. People, myself included, are on their phones, tablets and laptops reading all kinds of things and seeing so much stuff on a constant reel on a daily basis. News spreads like wildfire. Popular articles, blog post or videos can get thousands of shares and views in a matter of hours. I just hope that whatever I write in the coming days, months or years will have a positive influence on those who read it.

In essence, I write because I love to. I write because I'm able to express myself to large groups of people without having to speak (introversion at its finest y'all). I write because of the influence I know I can have on myself and those around me. I write, for lack of a better phrase, because I can!

Writing is so special to me and I don't know where I'd be without it now!