I was in grade school when we had this subject called ‘Jottings’. It’s the subject I love the most because all it requires you to do is write. I was not able to keep my Jottings notebooks but I do remember that I was able to write a lot of good compositions there. In class, the teacher will just give the students a topic then the students will write about it.
I can clearly remember that I was always in my element every time I was holding my pen and writing. It was second nature for me and I didn’t really need to exert any effort in expressing my ideas through words, phrases, and sentences. As a grade school student, I would usually write over the number of pages required. There was even a time when my teacher thought that I was not the one who wrote the entry in my notebook. My mom was so mad about that and the teacher needed to apologize to me because I was really the one who wrote it, no one else.
As time passed, I gained more exposure in writing. I was able to expand my horizon as more challenging tasks were asked as I progressed in school. I even challenged myself to write for an educational publication and they took my entry. It felt so good.
Then the words that were once only written because of academic requirements have become integrated in my daily life. I started to have a journal and was able to make 4 volumes all kept in our house. I let special people read my entries there. I was also quite a poet when it came to courting girls. Man oh man I was so mushy back then (well, I’m still mushy now, just in a different way:D ). I write poems and letters and notes hoping to have the girls fall for me. I was successful. Even though they didn’t all fall for me (because they’re not meant to fall for me I guess, hehe), they were all touched by my poems which is proven every time I talk to those people today.
I usually tell the people I give poems to that these poems are like wine. The longer it is from the time you first read it, the more intense the feeling it’ll give you when you read it again. I’m not sure if other writers will agree but I find it amazing that when I read the poems I composed 10-15 years ago, I’m brought back to that moment when I first read it and it triggers an emotion inside me, that kind of emotion that is cherished through time, pretty much what you feel when you look back at all the good memories you had with a person and then look at that person now. All the stories attached to the person, or in my case, the poem are then remembered and you sum it up in your heart to come up with this ultimate emotion that is incomparable to any other.
I wanted to take Journalism in college and be a professional writer. It was my dream course and my dream job. It didn’t push through though. I ended up having a Business Management degree and a job that is very relevant to my course. I don’t have regrets or anything. It’s just that there are really moments when I wonder how it will be like when I did push through being a journalist. I don’t waste the drive though. I still write now. I still compose poems and write about stuff I find amazing whether it’s from the internet, across the street, or outside my window. Most importantly, I still write about myself, my emotions,and my dreams and aspirations. I can write about anything. I will write about anything as there’s a feeling of achievement attached to it. I don’t get paid or anything and I’m sure only a selected few are able to read my compositions but still, it makes me feel complete. I even write to feel better sometimes. There are really these moments when I can only discover what’s inside of me when I write.
So that’s how significant writing is in my life and it’s all because of the Jottings subject I had when I was in grade school.
I started young and the drive will last forever.
