Challenge Day 2. Today my mission is to let you guys know how I have changed over the past 2 years.
<Insert quip about being 2 years older>
All superficiality and physical changes aside, I think that the most significant change I've made is that I have stopped trying to please everybody. Case in point; I'm really passionate about the Spanish language, in fact I'm passionate about foreign languages in general. In my house we speak English, Spanish or a mixture of both. Personally I have always wanted to pursue a career that incorporates language but my family wanted me to choose something more traditional, like Law. So August 2011 comes around and I receive 2 acceptance offers from the University of the West Indies. The first, for Law and the second for Spanish and Linguistics. Everyone around me encouraged me to do Law and I felt so pressured to please them that I ultimately chose to pursue that course, even though every beat of my heart yearned to be doing Spanish. By the end of the first semester I was miserable. I convinced myself that I just hadn't adjusted yet. Second semester comes along and I'm still unhappy and having frequent anxiety attacks. I can't tell you guys how many times I missed class because I couldn't bring myself to get off my bed and go to class. It was horrible. Still trying to please, I traveled to Barbados where I was to complete my studies, and had a truly horrible experience with my shady would-be landlords. Then it hit me; I had brought the whole horrible experience on myself when I made the decision to study something I didn't want to do all because I was trying to please everyone else. A person can't go through life like that. So I made a decision that a lot of people around me still struggle to understand, I left Law.
You know what? The anxiety attacks have stopped. It's like the cliche'd weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I could go into more details but my fingers hurt.
Moral of the story kids: Don't waste your life trying to please everyone. You'll go crazy like I did.
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