My love for words started at a very young age.

The very first moment I read a word was at the age of three. I was accompanying my parents as they ran errands one afternoon when I read “Super Value Land” as we drove past our local grocery store. My parents were in complete shock because for all they knew, “Super Value Land” was “Super Duper” in my mind, not “Super Value Land.” This was when I proved to my parents I was learning how to read.

As I grew older, I continued to read and write as much as possible. I remember thinking of magical stories and creating fairy tales in my mind and writing them down or turning them into illustrations. Reading and writing was my world as a child, and that love continued to grow over the years.

My true love for writing sparked when I was in the first grade. My first grade teacher was a huge advocate for creative writing. Every week, she required my class to write fictional stories about anything we could think of. These stories would be about our dogs turning into super heroes or saving our little brothers and sisters from fire-breathing dragons. If we could dream of it, we could write it. The fear of failing as creative writers did not exist.

Once a story was written, my teacher would proofread the piece and “publish” them. The final product was laminated and bound into book where we could illustrate every page. This was when I decided that I wanted to become a children’s writer when I “grew up.”

As years went on, I continued to nurture my love for writing. I kept countless journals where I would fill the pages with my thoughts, dreams, worries, and goals. I’ve even started several novels, but never had the energy or motivation to finish them. Despite my lack of energy, I’ve always held onto my dream of someday becoming a writer.

Writing has always been a way of self-expression for me. However, it was something I refused to embrace as a possibility for my career. My writing was for me and only me. As I grew older, I feared judgement or not being good enough, which is why I never shared anything I’d write with others.

Fast forward a few years high school. This was where writing got real.

My junior year of high school I enrolled in an accelerated literature class, which was the first time I was challenged as a writer. This class required us to read novels such as East of Eden and write thoughtful essays analyzing each piece. Overall, this class was very rewarding and enriched my personal development; however, there was one thing:

This was the very first time I felt like I had failed as a writer.

This class was hard. I mean super hard. Regardless of how hard I worked to improve my writing, I could never grasp the concepts my teacher emphasized during lectures. It seemed like I would never get an “A” on any essay and my teacher only had negative feedback to offer. To me, this was a sign that I could never create a career out of writing and was the very moment when I decided to give up on this dream.

Although I had given up on my dreams, I continued to write in my free time. I continued to fill up journals and fantasize about some day writing a novel. Most of my courage and confidence to share my writing with others was depleted, and I thought there was no way I could ever share my writing with people ever again.

This was when my creativity became scarred.

At this point in my education, I convinced myself I was a terrible writer. I had a hard time accepting the constructive criticism my teacher gave me, therefore I gave up.

However, when I entered my senior year of high school, things changed a little bit.

My senior year of high school I enrolled in an accelerated composition class that focused on writing personal essays and reading non-fiction. Every week, we were assigned a column to write — about anything you could imagine — as an exercise to share your ideas and allow your creativity to grow.

This was where my creative scar began to heal.

When I started this class, I had already convinced myself I was a horrible writer and there was no way anyone would enjoying reading what I’d write. As time went on, I started to have a change of heart.

The first time I read one of my columns in front of the class was when I changed my perspective on writing. I had written a column about being the best person you can possibly be, and to my surprise, my classmates and teacher loved it. This was when I began to heal, grow, and improve as a writer.

By the time I entered college, I had no idea I’d embark on a career as a writer. In fact, I never even dreamed of finding a job where I’d do the slightest bit of writing. Writing remained to be something I did for myself — not to be shared with anyone.

As I continued my studies, I was proved wrong about my fear of writing. During my sophomore year of college, my journalism professor told me I should apply to work as a writer for our my university’s student-run paper. I was in complete and utter shock. I still believed my writing was anything but special, especially to be published in a newspaper.

After gaining a little courage, I decided to apply for the position and got hired. For about a year, I wrote feature stories for the lifestyles section and eventually was promoted to copy editor. This was one of those experiences that truly gave me confidence in my writing again.

I truly believe every writing experience I’ve had in college has helped me heal my creative scar, one piece of writing at a time. This is why you’re reading about my journey as a writer.

Lately, I’ve been reading the book Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelly. In this book, they talk about how creativity is completely natural.

“If you want to become more creative, you just have to be more natural. We forget that back in kindergarten, we were all creative. We all played and experimented and tried out weird things without fear or shame. We didn’t know enough not to. The fear of social rejection is something we learned as we got older. And that’s why it’s possible to regain our creative abilities so swiftly and powerfully, even decades later.”

The authors continue on to explain how creativity isn’t a rare gift that only a few humans are given. In fact, it’s a completely natural part of human thinking. Unfortunately, at young ages, our creativity becomes blocked because of rejection or fear; therefore scarring us and making us feel like we can’t accomplish what we’ve once dreamed of doing.

Tom and David Kelly also explained that creativity can be unblocked. By unblocking our creativity, we can discover a creative spark that makes a difference in our lives, careers, and communities.

I think over the last four years, I have slowly unblocked my creativity, which has allowed me to evolve as a writer and gain more confidence in myself.

I was finally seeing my writing blossom as I wrote press releases, newsletters, and news stories. My writing also blossomed during my internships where I had to write newsletters, press releases, and hundreds of blog posts. Each of these experiences have proved to me that it is possible to heal from your creative scars and become empowered to chase after a dream.

As a writer, it’s important not to give yourself limitations or live in the fear of acceptance. When you do, you miss out on every opportunity to improve and accomplish your goals. Sure, there will be days when your writing is less than great and no one reads it. However, there will be those magical days when the world is so grateful you shared your thoughts through your writing.

As writers, we need to continue to unblock our creativity and stop fearing possibilities. The only way we can improve is if we keep writing and pushing ourselves to the next level. By having the will power and passion to become better writers, we’ll accomplish more than we could have ever imagined.

Do you have a creative scar? How did you overcome it?