Six weeks. That's how long it has been since I first joined Odyssey. I can still recall the excitement I felt after writing my first article. I remember anxiously refreshing my page, waiting for the notification that my first piece was online. I remember being overcome by a sudden rush of fulfillment and pure joy. Something that I had conceived in my mess of a mind and had delivered through my fingers and my keyboard was now online for all to see. Even now, I still struggle trying to describe that feeling. It's a feeling I still experience every week when I receive that notification and it's a feeling I hope will endure with me during my time here with Odyssey.

As a child, I was always found with a notebook and a pen in my hand. Whether it was devising new plots for my latest novel or simply recording my thoughts of the day in a journal, writing was a way of alleviating the chaos and the disorganization of my young mind. I had many thoughts and I had many opinions and there was no one I trusted more with those thoughts than myself. As I grew older, I found myself writing less and less. Before long, I had completely stopped writing.

The minute I stopped writing, I lost a part of me that I honestly didn't even realize I lost until today. And as melodramatic as that sounds, it's the truth.

Writing has always been a means of escape for me. I was always a quiet child, but I found that when I wrote, I could be as loud as I wanted. I found a greater sense of comfort in my pen than in people. I loved the feeling of watching my own mind personified in words and anecdotes, penned by my own hand. I loved being able to record my thoughts without any interjections from people who only listened, but never really heard what I was saying. It was a freedom unparalleled by anything else in my life. When I stopped writing, I lost that freedom.

Writing for Odyssey has helped me rediscover my voice. It has shown me the importance of sharing that voice. It has shown me that it's okay to be proud of my own work. It has exposed me to the voices of so many others in our generation with a real story to tell. It has provided me laughter in the form of relatable "listicles" and food for thought through pressing issues such as gender rights and social injustice. More importantly, it has provided me with the platform I need to let my mind be free.

I write to express, not to impress. I refuse to ever publish something that I'm not proud of. I refuse to ever publish something that I don't believe in, something that's not a true reflection of who I am. In the short time that I have been a part of this incredible platform, I have learned that just as it's important to have a voice and opinions, it's just as important to share that voice. Not for praise or recognition necessarily, but for the chance to truly connect to those who may share the same views, but may not have the same opportunity to speak up. Just as I've learned of the positive encouragement that connecting with others brings, I've also learned not to be fueled by the approval of others because it may not always be there. There's always going to be others who will not agree with your line of thinking and some of these people will have no problem openly expressing that. I've gotten to the point where I am completely okay with that because as long as I'm being true to myself, I'm happy. I may not be able to control the reactions of these individuals, but I can control my own.

I write to express, not to impress. I write for me. I've always written for me. But if in that process, I"m able to connect to one more person than I would have penciling in my little journal or make someone view an issue from a different, then I am content. If I'm in that process, I gain new insight into the mindset of those who think differently, then by all means, I am perfectly content.

And that is why I write for Odyssey.