Why I Fell In Love With Journalism

Life is a rollercoaster of emotions but for those, like me, who suffer from a mental illness the rollercoaster of life adds a few more twist and turns. I am Madelon Davis, and I am going to tell you why my mental illness made me fall in love with journalism.

I’ve suffered from anxiety along with panic attacks all my life. The first time I was struck with the intense constricting feeling in my chest and the burning sensation throughout my body I was six years old, and my father had just left to fight in the Iraq War. I didn’t understand why he left, when he would be home or if I would ever see him again. As a six-year-old it’s hard enough to learn how to read a simple sentence let alone wonder if your dad would ever walk through your front door again. While thankfully my father came home, my anxiety didn’t go away. As I grew up the anxiety did too. It followed me while effortlessly adding depression, anxiety attacks and OCD to the mix. Life seemed simple and carefree for others while I sat, internally struggling, wondering what life was going to look like for me.

Once high school rolled around it quickly became the time to start thinking of what was going to be next. For me, that didn’t make me feel hopeful for the endless options of who I could be but quite the opposite. The many choices of what I could do for a living made a fear crawl up inside of me it almost swallowed me alive. What if I made the wrong choice, what if I hated my job, are questions I continuously asked myself. But then I remembered the English class I took in the eighth grade.

Mrs. Hebert’s eight grade English class was what saved me from the impending doom of another depressive episode. During that class we wrote and wrote and wrote until we could tell a story unlike any other. Mrs. Hebert took her time with me helping cultivate the voice I now use, and hope to use for the foreseeable future, when writing my stories. She gave me tips and tricks of how to hone in my skills but still gave me the constructive criticism I needed to continue getting better.

When remembering this class, I realized that writing helped me feel alive, something that made me feel the most like me. Writing also gave me the power to escape whatever hardships were going on in my head. I could tell a story of a make-believe world where the villains always lost, and the heroes rejoiced in their victories. It also gave me the power to share other’s stories of hardship turned triumphs, it gave me the power to make people feel good which in turn helped me feel great. That is why I love journalism and that is why I want to continue my career writing fun, loving, heartwarming stories about life, fashion, people and food.