Praghna, Week 9 - The Power of Your Words
As far as I can remember, I grew up a shy person. Communicating did not come naturally to me. Words were more forcefully projected from my mouth to avoid being labeled an outcast. I simply preferred to be alone.
Though I did gradually change, due to communication being a skill required to survive, this change did not come so quickly.
I still reminisce about the times that I would avoid all my friends in an attempt to be alone with my thoughts on the Brier Elementary School swing set. I swung through recess while random thoughts that piqued my interest fled my brain. In contradiction to my dreadful fear of being alone, I liked being alone.
In third grade, my favorite teacher, Mr. Mcgee, introduced me to a book called Shredderman: Attack of the Tagger. I have no idea why I liked this book or if I liked it in general, but I became obsessed with reading since then. I read all sorts of books such as Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Maximum Ride, and I even tried to read the Lord of the Rings series but stopped after The Hobbit. As a person who initially dreaded words, I fell in love with them.
Not much later, in 6th grade, I was intrigued by journalism and writing as well. I still remember wanting to pursue a career in journalism before realizing the cost of living in California.
To me, the power of each word written outweighs the power any word I say will ever have. I appreciate Mr. Mcgee and Shredderman for helping me grow and realize the power literature holds.
Hi Praghna! Like you, I used to struggle with public speaking, performing, and mass attention on me as a kid, and even now sometimes. When I was young, it seemed like being social and outgoing or openly showcasing talents at school performances and presentations came easily to other kids. Meanwhile, I refused to even play a song on the guitar for my own mom or grandma. Again, similar to you, I also overcame this struggle due to being forced to adapt to new environments and move around a lot. For me, I would say my shyness manifests itself selectively. While I make friends quite easily, I struggle to talk in front of large groups of people. Writing has always been my ideal form of communication, as I've always been able to be more vulnerable and articulate through writing than speaking. All these factors considered, I felt compelled to take Journalism this year, like you! As I have written for the school paper, done interviews, and talked to people I would have never met otherwise or been put in situations I would have never been in otherwise, I have developed my social skills a lot. In terms of your point about the power of language, Journalism has taught me about the power of not just language, but perspective, and how powerful the combination of the two is. Thank you for your blog!
ReplyDelete