Self Reflection Essay

Since as long as I could remember I have always enjoyed writing for my own personal growth, but had trouble writing for school or work assignments. As I was reflecting on some of the weekly blog assignments that I created, I noticed that I did a particular better job at the free-writing assignments than the assigned topic ones. It was also a lot easier for me to discipline my self in writing on the free writing assignments than the assigned ones.

Don’t get me wrong some of the assigned writing assignments were very meaningful and enjoyable to write, such as the Reflective Essay “Broken Down in the Army”. Writing the last section of this essay, brought forth real life emotions inside me, it clearly reminded me if being in the Drill Sergeant’s office. When I wrote and then read the following, ““I knew that I could only hold on a little while longer, but told my self once again “It’s all mental”. Finally, the moment came where I could not go on, tears filled my eyes from the pain and disgrace I felt that I was about to throw in the towel. I fell from the invisible chair and laid on the ground, like a baby in the fetal position. I had been broken.”” It literally brought tears to my eyes as I was remembering that special occasion in my life. The reason this was meaningful and enjoyable was because it made me look back on my life, and see how that part of me, has tremendously allowed me to improve my life now. In other words, looking back at this occasion allows me to appreciate the current things in my life to a whole new level.

I do believe that my writing skills have briefly improved since starting this class and for sure my critical thinking skills, which have been stretched on some of the writing assignments. For example, the rhetorical analysis was not too difficult to write, but definitely challenged me to think critically. It was for sure the hardest assignment in class, which really challenged me to think outside the box. As for the rest of the assignments I had to discipline my self to finish, but always felt a small sense of accomplishment, ones each assignment was complete.

I believe that one of the reasons that I thought the free-writing assignments were easier to write than the other assignments was because I had the choice of choosing any topic. I am the type of writer that uses writing to share life experiences and emotions with people. So if one takes a look at all my free-writing assignments, they will see that they are all set up to give advice or touch the audience on a personal level. For example, the free-writing on marriage shares some of my experience on marriage and some simple advice that would help people considering marriage. The staring paragraph states, “Marriage is one of the most important decisions anyone will ever make in their life. This choice will either fulfill ones life or ruin it. Marriage is not what Hollywood shows to be a young beautiful girl and a handsome prince charming falling in love and living happily ever after. Marriage is a serious, long term commitment, which requires a lot of hard work and dedication.” As mentioned earlier, writing is my way for sharing emotion and life experience with people and hope that through this I could help some people out.

As for the assigned assignments, I don’t really have a desire to do, but still do because it is part of the class objective. On the opening paragraph of the second post, I share what I am feeling about writing for assigned material. It briefly refers to the difficulty I am having in writing for the assigned post. The paragraph goes like this, “To find the cultural contexts of a website, when it’s sole and only purpose is to find the meaning of words, is difficult to accomplish. Answering the five W’s, who, what, when, where and why will be no easy task, but necessary in order to accomplish the assignment.”

In closing, I am completely satisfied with the way this class has instilled into me the discipline of writing. It was also very pleasing to receive credit for free writing. The one thing that I believe has improved in my writing is to think critically of my writing. The class also refined my writing skills, which is something that every writer should always be doing on a continuous basis. The overall class was a good experience that has helped me expand my knowledge in becoming a better writer.