You're sitting in your freshman English class with your fellow classmates and your teacher says "For this unit, you have to write a 5 page page paper on insert something you'll probably forget about in a week". Everyone, including you and I, will groan. Writing for school is one of the hardest things to enjoy because you can't chose the topic. When you can chose the topic, writing is one of the easiest ways to express yourself. I love to write because:
You can make yourself sound smarter than you really are.
Yes, making yourself sound smarter on paper is both a blessing and a curse. It's good because people will think you are more intelligent and gifted than your close friends know you are. It's a curse because people will have very high expectations when they meet you in person, which you will have a hard time living up to since you don't use words like expunged, ostentatious, or druthers in your every day conversations. But hey, why not look good on paper?
You can create a different personality.
Most of the people who read my writing will agree that I'm much different in person than I am in my writing, which is okay. Some writers (obviously) assume an entirely different name when writing books or blogs. I like to feel somewhat hidden, but still open to whoever reads my articles (in a way, if that even makes sense). Having a "alter-ego" can create thousands of different possibilities for ideas or stories to write.
It's an outlet for feelings.
How you feel on the day you write something will strongly influence the tone and even content of your writing. To me, writing is a way to get out your feelings without having to necessarily tell someone because not everyone is trustworthy. Writing down how you feel can also lessen your bad feelings and increase the good. Being able to have an outlet that is safe is the best route for feelings, and writing is probably the cheapest (definitely a broke college kid writing this).
It's powerful.
Most people dread writing but if you think about it, writing is like texting your friend, just with better grammar and no phone bill. You can say whatever you want about whatever you want and you can also share it, but keep it private if you feel like it. Being able to vent or be passionate about something just through your writing skills is one of the most beneficial qualities someone can have. Writing is pretty cool because you can write something fairly meaningless or something that could change the world. You never know what your thoughts can do.
You can meet some awesome people.
I met some of my really good friends through yearbook (a form of writing because there's the short stories that nobody reads) in high school and I wouldn't have normally met them without it. We still talk a lot and I'm so happy I decided to try yearbook my junior year. Being able to write gave me the ability to meet people that I would become very close with.
Writing is an easy way to make yourself sound smarter, but it can also change the world with the right words. Whether it's meeting a new friend or just being able to feel better or happier on a bad day, writing is an underestimated art that more people should experience, instead of just texting their friends about the latest gossip with Kim Kardashian or clowns.
