Personal Essay

I am going to be one hundred percent honest about this next writing assignment: I am dreading it. It seems like my entire writing "career" through high school and college has been about strictly following a form. I have been told exactly what to write about how the writing should follow strict pattern of intro, thesis, body, etc. I have become way too comfortable in it. In the reading for this week, Dr. Ballenger points out how the personal essay is a "dramatic departure from the kind of academic writing in other classes " and boy is it ever exactly that (73). 

Thinking about this personal essay and how uncomfortable I am in writing it, I see a link between my personality and the writing I prefer. I am a by the book, rule following, in the box kind of person; and I prefer that writing. Strict academic forms are most comfortable and the easiest for me to write. This personal essay is pulling me out of even my comfort zone in life! It is open ended and a blank canvas. It is exactly where I feel most uncomfortable. In a way, this essay is forcing me to engage in a personality exercise. I am being tested in both my personal life and academic performance. I only hope I can earn an A...