When I was 11 years old, a good friend of mine told me to download an app called Wattpad. I never thought about being a writer prior to that. I had written stories for school and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a hobby of mine until that day. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I was writing (and reading) about anything from Harry Styles to Harry Potter. I was writing poetry, essays and full-on novels. Everything was inspiring me. When I wrote was when I felt truly alive. And people were reading my work and they were liking it! I was sharing the most vulnerable parts of me with complete strangers and they were soaking it up like a sponge. I was getting constant validation from people I didn’t know for my hard work and no one in my real life really knew about any of it. By the time I was 19, I had gained over ten thousand followers and accumulated millions of reads across my books.
As I grew older, I recognized writing as a true passion, perhaps my only passion. It was something I was good at and something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life.
I knew it wasn’t practical, though. I knew I couldn’t dedicate my life to a hobby. I knew I needed a “real” job with security and safety.
I would fixate on a certain career every few months, something realistic and practical. Writing would be pushed to the side and I would just tell myself I’d do it on the side.
There was a moment I realized I had to stop ignoring my dreams. If all I could think about was writing, then I had to let myself actually take it seriously. So, after a small breakdown and major realization, I changed my major and added a minor in order to set myself on the right path.
I’m now an English major with a minor in creative writing and I couldn’t be happier. I can tell people about my dreams will full contentment and without feeling embarrassed or like I’m lying.
I hope everyone realizes that their dreams are important and valid and worth chasing. I’m so blessed to have an amazing support system that encourages me to take the steps I need to turn my dreams into a reality. Not everyone has that and for them, my heart breaks. It takes an insane amount of courage to acknowledge and understand your true passions and to do what it takes to pursue them.
Writing is the end goal but I stay open-minded as I look into the future.