I have always had a journal that I wrote my thoughts in. Though I didn't write in it every day, I brought it with me everywhere - vacations, road trips, church, everywhere. Most, if not all, of my peers never knew I liked to write my thoughts down. It's not that I was ashamed or shy to admit that I had a particular liking for writing, it was rather that I liked having a sort of "secret" hobby. I liked telling stories that nobody would hear about.

Yes, this may seem nice, writing thoughts and stories only you would see, but as I grew older, I discovered more of the world. After visiting and experiencing various places, I simply had an urge to share it with those around me, but I had no way or confidence of doing so. As a result, I joined Twitter a couple years ago. As a young teen, I thought this was great and I would thus be able to let my thoughts out in a "cooler" way. Even then, I wasn't getting the satisfaction that I desired. I had to receive followers in order for them to read my "tweets" or tag somebody in a post for them to notice me. All I wanted was to share my thoughts, but sometimes I wanted to express myself in more than 160 characters...I had to do something about this.

Last summer I started a small blog, but I didn't share it with anybody, hoping it would somehow get views without me acknowledging the fact that I had a blog. That didn't work. Yet again, I was missing something. Something that took me months to identify. Four months into college, I realized what this "something" was. Confidence. I needed confidence in my writing in order to be proud of what was being written and have the joy to share my journey with others. I not only wanted to promote my entries, but I wanted more than my peers to experience my writing.

Before I opened this post, I had so many topics going through my mind of what I should write about. Then once I opened this post to start my writing, my mind went blank. I was afraid of how it might turn out if I wrote about this or wrote about that. Finally, I stopped. I realized why I wanted to begin this in the first place. I wanted to inspire others, encourage them, and expose them to different perspectives they may not have heard before. But in all, I wanted to express myself in a different way than I have in the past, through writing.

As I am writing this post, I am simply gaining gumption by thinking about the possible positive outcomes. Turning this to you, I hope that you may never doubt yourself and the things that come to your mind because they may be so valuable and a lesson to others. I hope you can find confidence in yourself to make your mark and impact others, but just know...writing your first article is always the hardest.