One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received is to do what I love. This does not sound like some profound advice that no one else has ever heard, but it made a difference in my life.
I love writing but I wasn't always doing it. By the time high school rolled around, my parents felt it was best to get serious about my education. I was born into a South Asian family and that family knew I was going to be a doctor. And not just any doctor, one of the best.
I didn't mind that they wanted that for me. My "Grey's Anatomy" obsession definitely encouraged me to pursue medicine. I did know that the life of a doctor was nothing like that, but the world of "Grey's Anatomy" lured me in. I wanted to be Dr. Meredith Grey.
I was all about working hard to get to that point, but I lost steam somewhere along the way. I was also very unhappy. That all changed with one creative writing class. It was a class on how to write creative fiction. I rediscovered my passion for writing.
My parents discouraged me from pursuing writing. To them, writing was just a hobby. My father believed writing could not be a career and that the medical field was where I should be.
Writing is my life. Coming back to writing has shown me my life purpose.
Writing has impacted me in a lot of ways:
1. I try to see things from the eyes of other people
2. I am more sensitive to what others feel
3. I want to know more about what makes people different from one another
4. I now know not everything needs to be related back to me
5. I have something in my life to love that will stay with me my entire life
6. I am more confident in expressing myself
7. I have people to support me while I aspire to be a writer
8. I made friends who talk to me about writing and other things too
Coming to Towson really has helped me feel reassured that I'm finally right where I need to be. I am my own biggest critic, and so my writing never feels good enough. Other people's opinions affect me because I do not always take criticism well but as I've learned, a writer who defends their work is not spending their time on something of value. A writer's time is best spent writing.
And in the end, the writer will always have the last say about their story.
