There are some things in life you are taught how to do, it could be how to solve equations, how to write an application letter/ CV, how to cook rice without burning it, and even how to make 1 million in 3 days(😏), but there are other things that just come to you. Naturally. Like a gift. For me, that thing is writing.
It started when I was much younger. I didn't know it was writing at first, I just used to scribble thoughts in the back of my notebooks. Sometimes they were short stories, other times just how I felt about life or people. I think the first time I ever wrote something that mattered to me, I was about nine. It was during a time when I felt misunderstood. Something had happened, and I honestly can’t remember exactly what, but I was upset and couldn’t talk to anyone about it. So I took an old notebook, one I had used for school, and turned to a blank page at the back. I wrote a letter I never intended to send. It started with “I don’t know why I feel like this…” and the words kept coming, and I wrote a few pages. I didn’t care about spelling or neatness. I just wrote because I needed to let it out.
That notebook became something special to me. Every time I felt down, I would go back to it. Over time, it stopped being just about pain. I began writing dreams. Stories. Short poems that didn’t rhyme but made sense to me.
I remember a particular story I wrote in secondary school. It was about a girl who ran away from home to follow her dreams. I didn’t think it was anything special, I just wanted to imagine what life would look like if we didn’t have to follow rules we didn’t believe in. I hid it inside my school bag, but somehow, my friend managed to see it when she was rummaging through my bag looking for a textbook of mine so she could do her homework in school. She read it and came towards my desk, smiling at me with wide eyes, and asked, “Did you really write this?”
I nodded slowly and shyly.
“This is really good. You should be writing books.” I love this your story oo. She added.
That was the first time I thought maybe this thing I was doing wasn’t just a secret hobby. Maybe it could be more.
I remember during my secondary school days. A teacher found one of my short stories I had submitted as part of a class assignment, but I didn’t take it seriously. Later, she called me aside and said, “You have a gift with words. You made me feel something.” I smiled and didn't know how to respond but I knew something in me grew that day.
There was another time, in my final year in school, when I went through a really difficult season. I had lost someone I loved deeply, and the pain felt too heavy to speak about. People around me tried to comfort me, but the words didn’t help. I was tired of hearing “It’s going to be okay,” because it didn’t feel okay. I was emotionally down, and again, I turned to writing. This time, I didn’t just write in my journal. I wrote a story. It was about a young girl who lost her lover and couldn’t find her way through the sadness. I didn’t write it as myself, but somehow, it was me. It felt safer that way. I poured my pain into that girl's story. When I finished, I cried. Not because of the story, but because it helped me release something I had been carrying for a long time.
That’s what writing does for me. It helps me process emotions I don’t know how to speak out loud. It helps me understand myself better.
I have had people read my work and say things like, “Your writing speaks to me,” or “This is exactly how I’ve felt but didn’t know how to say it.” And every time, it humbles me. Because I’m not trying to impress anyone, I’m just expressing my thoughts.
My old notebook and writing materials
Writing is more than just a skill to me. It’s a companion. It’s the place I go to when the world is too loud. Sometimes it’s in a notebook, sometimes in the notes app on my phone. ( Too numerous to count😅)
My current writing journal
Looking back, I think we all have something like that, something we didn’t learn in school, something we didn’t earn, but something that feels like it was planted in us from the beginning. For some people, it’s singing, fixing things, reading minds, playing musical instruments For others, it's maybe eating and sleeping (yes, it's a talent😄) but for me, it’s writing and sleeping (I won't talk about the sleeping part, not just today.😂😂)
So yes, something I never learned but could do conveniently is writing. Not because I’m perfect at it, but because it’s part of me.
