Why Every College Student Should Write

This is my first article I have ever published. So I thought I would address the main concerns that plagued my thoughts before I wrote this: why would anyone want to read what I wrote? What could another person learn from just another college student? Not only that, but what could they learn from me that they wouldn’t be able to learn from someone else? Someone more experienced or more wise. Those were the kinds of questions I was up against when I was asked to publish my writing. And if I were to guess, there are many people (maybe you) who feel the very same way.

I can’t ignore that little voice in the back of my head that questions everything I do. It gets even louder when I think about putting my thoughts on paper. It starts screaming when I consider to let another person read those thoughts. The easy thing is to cave to these concerns, to let that fear take over. What if someone disagrees with me? What if I use ‘there’ instead of ‘their’ and they leave a negative comment?

So why in the world would anybody write? Why should you risk this kind of scrutiny. Writing is a very personal endeavor. I write to reflect on my experiences or to express the creative side of my personality. In its most basic format, writing should be an expression of the self, and the truest thing we can do is write things we ourselves want to read. You are your perfect audience. We each want to read that which makes us feel more connected or provides the cognitive high of learning something new. Some people read because they want to feel like they’re not alone. That there is someone else out there they can identify with, connect with. Other people read to learn about something new that they didn’t know before. Such as distant lands and majestic animals. Maybe you read to get transported to parallel universes that we haven’t yet discovered. The worlds of history or fantasy or sci-fi. Except reading is easy. It’s not the risky part.

It is through reading that we learn, but it is through writing that we grow. If nothing else, take some time during your week to write down the major events or the lessons you learned. Jot down your ideas or the world that you visit during your dreams. It’s understandable to want to keep it to yourself, and it may not seem very special to you, but it might just bring happiness to someone else.