With December here and deadlines swiftly approaching, I am going through what I believe are my last few rounds of college applications and forms. I’ve been writing short answers upon short answers for my supplementals, and while they can be stressful, I’ve found that a lot of good has come out of writing them.

Short answers for me have been a form of introspection. I have been able to view my life, past experiences, and body of work I’ve completed so far and been able to interpret who I am and my character from them. From the process, I’ve been able to objectively understand myself and what I truly stand for and what I have proven I’m passionate about.

I feel in this manner I’ve learned so much about myself. And of course I have because the steps I have gone through in order to access the essence of myself as an individual have made me retrieve, relive, and retrace so many memories and experiences I have gone through. What in the moment didn’t seem relevant or significant to me or my life, in retrospect have shaped up my mindset and decisions. Experiencing little fragments of my past that shape me up to be who I am today has allowed me to rediscover myself.

I’ve always considered myself a highly self-aware and reflective individual, conscious of my role in society and the way my actions and choices impact the immediate world around me, but when life gets chaotic and busy, it can become easy to temporarily forget your sense of worth and self even.

Life keeps chugging on ahead, and in the present, you just, for the lack of a better word do stuff, going with the flow and conquering what life throws at you without thoroughly processing it. Sometimes with the chaos of it all, you’re just accomplishing tasks, finishing one just to start another—a never ending assembly line of work.

As weird as it may sound, It’s nice to be able to make sense of what it is you’re exactly doing. What’s the purpose of all of this? Why am I doing what I’m doing? How do I feel about this? How am I benefitting from this?

I’m glad I was afforded this opportunity to realize how therapeutic and self-awakening writing is for me in better understanding myself. It’s always good to take a pause and evaluate yourself, and that’s what writing does for me.