Journal #1
Preliminary Self-Analysis
To start off, I would like to state that I personally feel that analyzing one’s self is
vital to self-awareness and growth. I find myself thinking of ways to enhance various
skills in order to get my point across and be understood. That is what most people want,
yes? They want to be understood.
My speech has, apparently, never been perfectly clear. According to my family,
close friends, and random strangers whom I have communicated with recently: I
mumble. Some words I speak and they sound understandable to my ears but people
will question such words, repeating them as they heard it, sometimes with a g where
there shouldn’t be (most common). As much as it can be a set-back, it is only a minor
frustration. One other speech related issue, for me, is public speaking. I would not call it
stage-fright, but the mumbling links with it so I am not fully understood all the time.
Throughout high school, my written assignments almost always received
admirable scores. Most of my English class journals, Creative Writing short-stories, U.S
History essays, and Honors Government essays were seen as original and wellorganized. There were, of course, many such papers that came back covered in red ink,
stating numerous flaws within the structure of my writing. I go off topic, create run-on
sentences, type what I think in the order of my thoughts instead of the basic
organization of an essay, and I tend to give too much attention to a singular topic. I feel
that since I have not written any sort of assignment or even a just-for-fun story (like I
used to do), my writing skills have dwindled and I consider this a weakness.
Unfortunately, writing was once one of my favorite activities and now it has become a
dark cloud of doom over my college experience. Do not let this lengthy journal fool you;
I know you only wanted two paragraphs and such, but I had much to say about these
topics.
Finally, the thinking skill. Something we all, as human beings with a functioning
brain, can accomplish without effort. It is instantaneous; we wake, we have a thought. It
could be anything. “Oh gosh, it’s so early and I don’t wanna get up”. Boom! You thought
of something. I think of it as us talking to ourselves without speaking. My mind jumps
from one thought to the next, similar to a hyper frog. It can be a bother whilst writing,
which concludes in me going off topic and scrambling to link together previous
perspectives. I can go from thinking of orange juice to what’s going on in North Korea in
seconds. Although this may seem like a hinder, it does come in handy. For example,
conversations become almost fun as I am lightning fast to think of funny or useful
thoughts to add to the topic provided. I end up finishing other peoples’ sentences,
however, but they usually find it helpful as they struggle for the right words. I am not
sure how to describe it, but I do find it useful. Therefore, I consider this a strength and I
like this “activity”.