I was born without a sense of smell. I have never been able to smell anything. I believe this has led me to experience the world in a way where I observe everything with my other three senses. Because I am an observer, I love to create stories of the things I witness: the world, the people I interact with, and nature that I will sit in for hours and write. I spend a lot of time writing in nature. This enables me to think clearly and flow. I love that I am able to escape into another world, whether that be a world where I'm writing about my past, a fictional world with different characters, poetry, etc. I love that with writing, I can express myself more than I could with spoken words. Often, as a child, I would write letters to people (parents, siblings, friends, teachers) if I felt I couldn't articulate myself with speaking. I have chronic mental health conditions (OCD, depression, ADHD, PTSD, and general anxiety disorder). These have hindered my ability to communicate with others in my daily life and writing has helped me express myself tremendously. In 2014, I was nineteen years old and watched my mother, my best friend, die. This was an extremely traumatic event for me and my siblings and the aftermath of this tragedy only encouraged more trauma into my life. In 2022, my brother who is two years younger than me, passed away from a fentanyl overdose. The reason I include this in my application is because I think it's important to note that with my mental health conditions and the external traumas I've faced, I have persevered! Writing would be the single most internal reason I have been able to survive! Without writing, I don't know how I would have been able to express the many episodes and emotions that I have felt in the past ten years (grief, depression, solitude, confusion, etc.). In 2019, I spent a week in a mental health facility for suicidal ideation. I spent the entire time reading and writing (with a marker; sharp pens/pencils were not available), and I wrote down all of my observations. I thought it would be an interesting book and have created blog posts based off of my experiences in the facility. I want to further my education, specifically with writing and becoming a better writer because I know I could improve substantially. There is so much to explore in writing, novel making, publishing, grammar, structure, etc. I am in awe of everything there is to learn and am eager to do so! One of my personal values is to always strive to be better than I was yesterday. I always want to be the best version of myself, and writing has helped me accomplish that every day. I only have more to grow into and continuing my education in this field would be of great importance to me. Thank you for taking the time to read more about me and my deep passion and love for writing. I hope you have a great day!