Ever since I was little, I have always been known to be writing in notebooks. Every Christmas, Easter, and Birthday, I would always ask for new notebooks just so I could write whatever was in my head.

It wasn't until my senior year of high school when I really figured out that writing was my passion more than anything else. I decided to write a play for a competition about my family and my life and it surprised me when I found out that my play had been passed on to the state competition. Ever since then, I was writing.

In the year that I have been writing, there are a few things that I learned to love about it.

1. I'm more real with myself when I write than I am when I'm not writing.

I've come to learn that I post something for the world to see. When I post my words, my ideas, and my heart through my writing, I need to make sure that what I'm writing about actually means something to me. In the past year, I have learned more about myself because I forced myself to dig deep into my heart and find out what going on in there. For me, there's no reason to write and to take up space on the internet if what you write isn't meaningful to you.

2. My perception of the world has changed.

Coming with an idea to write about every week has its challenges. Going through my day and thinking about what I could write about is difficult. I've found that when I am brainstorming, I make myself think about the situation as a whole so I know where I can take the idea. Doing this has given me the chance to opening myself up to new perspectives. Not only did my writing change but my way of treating people has too.

3. It gives me accountability.

Going with #1, when I write something, I want to make sure that it actually means something to me. I always think that when people read my writing, they then have this perception of me. If I write something that I made up on the spot and has absolutely no value to it, for me, I'm basically a hypocrite. The things I write, tell people who I am and what's in my heart. Writing about Jesus and then going to get drunk that night isn't who a writer should be. To me, that shows that the writer doesn't care at all about what he/she is writing and only doing it for the views.

4. It opens my mind to new ideas.

This happens more often than you think. I'll be writing about something and somehow, that idea I was trying to develop completely turns my head towards another idea. This, I think, is when my best writing comes out. To be completely thrown off into another idea is inspiring.

5. It has become my therapy.

I've learned that I don't do a very good job at telling people how I feel. My words get all jumbled up and what I ended up saying wasn't what I wanted at all. I have found that when I write, I immediately feel better and feel as if what I meant to say, came out the exact way that I wanted.

I feel as if writing has become my purpose. Like it's what I'm supposed to do. I know that, as a writer, I have a lot to improve on but I don't have to be great writer to do it. I just have to have a notebook and pen.