In January of this year, I had accomplished a goal I had tried to achieve for months. The most personal and vulnerable article I had ever written ranked #11 in the nation for Odyssey. This was huge! Family, friends, and even strangers from all over poured love my way…sharing my article and expressing how proud they were of me for achieving something I had worked so hard for.

While the positive comments flooded my feed, so did hate. The negativity towards my writing progressed each day.This did not only make me feel self conscious about writing, but it sincerely brought me down. I let all the negative comments upstage the positive name I had made for myself in the writing field.

I wrote a couple more articles, but they sincerely weren't my best work. The love I had for writing had not faded, but the love I had for sharing my work had. I continued to write. The notes in my phone increased with ideas for my next article or a potential book for the future. But when your work is poor, no one wants to read it or share it. Therefore, I made the impulsive decision to take a break from writing.

No, I did not quit. I took some time for myself to get in the right mindset to begin writing again. Not only were the negative comments overwhelming, but so was the writing itself. Going to college full time, while working part time, and submitting a 500+ word article a week can be slightly exhausting. We are all human, and pretty sure no one runs on superhuman fuel- unless you are my mom, of course. It had just become too much; if we are being honest here…I really wanted to just come back to the dorm at night and invest my brain into the lives of everyone at "Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital." You Greys Anatomy fans feel me on this one, I desperately needed to finish all 14 seasons of the most life-sucking television show created.

My second semester of Freshman year was wrapping up as well and I needed to put all my extra time into prepping for finals and ending the year strong. In the midst of all this, I was able to spend more time with my best friends before we went our separate ways. I was able to be there for them in the late hours instead of worrying about a deadline of an article I had yet to pick the topic for.

The past few weeks, I finished not one but three tv series and then lied in bed until afternoon because I didn't know what to do next… this brought me to the conclusion that it was time to write again. It was time to pick up a book and begin reading again. It was time to say goodbye to extremely addicting shows that had slowly taken over my life. It was time to remember what life was like before the life-changing age of Netflix. It was time to remember why I wanted to become a writer in the first place.

At a young age, I developed a love for reading and writing. I would go through multiple chapter books in a week; eventually, the librarians ran out of books for me to read. This began my interest to take up writing. Having read more books than you can name; I took up an interest in writing my own stories. These stories consisted of comedy, action, romance, adventure, you name it, I wrote it. Many had their own illustrations while others were meant to be chapter books for "older people." Even then, my goal was to reach a wider audience with something I was so passionate about.

In high school, I wrote an essay about my personal life and it made its way around the entire school. I was asked to read it to other classes and some even asked for copies of it. I knew nothing, nor no one could stop me from chasing after my dreams because I had such a huge support system. Thinking back to the days of the past, I have realized a few important lessons I tend to follow here on out; whether it be relating to writing or simply life itself:

1.If you want something, go for it.

2.Don't let anyone or anything stand in your way from accomplishing your goals and following your dreams.

3.If it's important to you, it's important to those that truly matter.

4.What you do now has an affect on the rest of your life.

5.In the great words of Sheryl Crow, "If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad."

Here I am… Back, better, and stronger than ever.

Ashlyn Rittenberry

Username: Ashlyn_Rittenberry

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