First of all, many many thanks to Odyssey for letting me be a part of such a big platform. More often, I consider myself an observer, a critical thinker, and a creator. I have always loved to write but not in English until I came to the United States five years ago. I used to loathe all the grammar rules and never understood why do we have to use it this way. However, thanks to my high school English teachers for convincing me and here I am writing for Odyssey, which I do for fun. Honestly speaking, I never expected something like this to happen back then. In my opinion, writing is an excellent tool for critical thinking, active learning, and to make a change. If this tool is used appropriately, literally anything can be achieved. By sharing your stories or opinions about something encourage people also to share their stories and ideas and in some cases it helps them to come over from the stress.

Writing can be a powerful tool for changing how people see the world around them, and I've always liked to be part of it and let people see what I can see. Also, by reading my fellow Odyssey writer's articles, I have been able to see the world and many things in a different way. I think Odyssey is not just helping its members to explore themselves, but also giving an opportunity to be open-minded and learn from others. Even though I never got to meet most of my fellow Odyssey writers until this last Sunday, I have always somehow related to them after reading their stories and personal opinions. I feel like writing for Odyssey has given me a purpose and voice to my contemplations. Of course, it has improved my abilities as a writer and it has given me a chance to do what I adore.

Due to my college and a job schedule, I started writing articles bi-weekly (formerly weekly,) and I feel bad about it because I loved what I was doing. I have always enjoyed working under pressure and sometimes to overcome procrastination. Writing for Odyssey has taught me a harsh lesson about procrastination. The more you procrastinate, the worse you do at whatever you were doing. In other words, it took me longer to write an article when I was procrastinating. I have also seen that it affects the quality of your work, too. So, "don't procrastinate" has become my motto. I always had thoughts in my mind that I wanted to write it down on the piece of paper and post on my blog or something but never did it. Odyssey has not only given me an opportunity to put my thoughts out into the world but also, to positively force me to think critically about whatever topic I'm writing on.

More often, it feels like it's giving too much, but I don't let my mind influence my action. It's super familiar to quite something which seems hectic to you, but not necessarily it's terrible for you. I like to challenge myself and do things that I don't want to do. If my brain tells me, "Don't do this at any cost." I would do it, which can be frustrating, but I like rewards more than the pain that I have to go through while fighting with my brain. I know, it may sound little weird, but I think it's important to mention here since I am talking about what I do and why I do. Speaking of writing genre, I love to write poems, fiction stories, and something related to psychology, philosophy and sci-fi/science. Again, I always enjoyed reading poetry but never wrote one until I joined Odyssey and I want to thank Odyssey from the depth of my heart. I realized how much I love writing poetries. Last but not least, writing outside of school is a lot more fun than anything I do at the school. In general, I always tend to do things that make me happy, and I don't do it for money. All in all, thank you to my Odyssey community and my EIC! See you next week!