Writing has always been the one thing that has allowed me to express what I was feeling. I can’t talk in public to save my life, I can talk to little kids all day, but put me in front of a group of five or more people in their teens or older and I will probably have a panic attack right there and then. That is actually part of the reason I am an Early Childhood and Special Education major, but that’s another story for another time.

Growing up I always had the little feeling of not quite belonging 100%. Don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of friends growing up, really close good friends, but writing was still the one thing I could do to let everything out without having the guilt of bothering someone else with my silly little problems. Ever since I was little I loved reading and I was pretty good at it too. I could read a lot, quickly, and remember it. I lived in the library during my free time in elementary school. We had these AR tests we had to do in elementary school, it’s a pretty common thing within the districts. Different books were rated by their grade level and were worth different amounts of points and depending on how well you did on the AR quiz after reading the book, determined if you got the points for the books. Different teachers required a certain amount of AR points to be earned by the end of each week. I remember just sitting and reading until my mom would make me put a book down. My goal was to have as many points as possible and I think it is safe to say I reached that goal. My fifth grade year I had a little over one thousand points and I remember how proud of myself I was.

I love reading so much. I love just getting that chance to escape from everything that is going on and put myself into the story, I just get so into the books and into the storyline.

I remember in about fifth or sixth grade I started keeping a journal, and I just loved documenting things that were going on. I only kept my journal for a year or so and then I started just writing randomly, I loved writing and I loved telling my own stories. I loved getting to write and rewrite stories. I didn’t really like people reading my writing and other work, but when I started reading other Odyssey posts, I realized how much I really wanted to try it.

I am so glad that I decided to give it a chance. I feel as if I was lucky enough to have a voice among a ton of people. No, I don’t receive a lot of views on my articles, but I am okay with that. Just knowing that my work, what I have written on my own, is online for anyone to read, is rather weird to think about, but at the same time it is encouraging. I love writing and I am so thankful that I got the chance to write for Odyssey.