Over the last semester, I have gotten more involved in writing. Almost every hour of my day is spent reaching out to sources, revising drafts and working with social media teams to make sure my articles get as much exposure as possible. I’ve been able to work with different styles and genres and find a voice I never knew I even had. I still think it’s crazy that people actually listen to what I have to say. But the more writing I do, the more criticism I get. Even though it’s inevitable, I am sometimes still surprised to see happen. I’ve always been sensitive to what people say about me, whether I know them or not. But here’s how I’ve learned to deal.

When I first started getting the occasional negative reaction, my first idea was that any press is good press. I mean hey, at least my article is being shared right? Even if it was being shared for the Wrong Reasons™, it was still upping my view counts, which was helping me out in the long run. But as someone who has always had a hard time dealing with criticism, I couldn’t help but take it personally. Hearing that my writing made people “uncomfortable” made me uncomfortable. Did my writing really have the power to make people feel a certain way? Or was it just another way to entertain a group chat? I didn’t want people to think about me in a different way just because of something I wrote.

The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that that’s the whole point of writing. I have the ability to influence people through written words -- which is an incredible power. After all, how many 19-year-olds can say that? Every time you read something, it becomes a little part of who you are. You remember it, and you reference it, even if it’s something as simple as that Buzzfeed article you read when you woke up. So when I hear people call my writing “shit lit,” I can’t help but laugh. You still read it, right? You got a little glimpse into my head, for better or worse.

What’s so great about writing is that it documents your thought process. Even if I don’t like to always admit it, my writing has the ability to define who I am, for better or worse. But is that really such a bad thing? Growth and change is natural and my writing is how I document it. It’s easy for people to forget how much courage that takes. It’s not like sending a text message, or a Snapchat, which will eventually disappear. It’s literally displaying what you think and believe for the whole world to see, forever. I realized that you should write what is meaningful and what is important to you, because at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. If people don’t like it, oh well. If you write with purpose, they can’t fault you.