Advice of the Day (from yours truly) One of the earliest memories that I have from second grade is one that Ill never forget. I dont know why it sticks out so much in my mind - there were so many wonderful things that happened that year; but this one haunts me to this day. And its such a seemingly small, simple memory - but in reality, its so much more than that. I remember our teacher, Mr. Deckman, had assigned us a short essay to write about our culture/background; and at the time, we were working on our rough drafts. Mr. Deckman told us it was fine if we made grammar or spelling mistakes; because this wasnt the final essay and we could correct any errors while proofreading. After I was done writing my essay, I got into a line behind some of my classmates. We were all waiting in front of Mr. Deckmans desk, waiting to get our papers corrected. One of my classmates standing behind me looked over my at my paper and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around, and she whispered, Theres no mistakes in your essay. I looked back down at my paper, and realized she was right. As far as I could tell, the spelling looked pretty good to me, and grammar was something I never had a problem with. Still, I gulped and said, Ill be right back. I went back to my desk, sat down, and erased some of the correctly spelled words and punctuation marks, and replaced them with errors. I remember going a bit overboard with that - in my heart, I knew my essay was great, and Mr. Deckman wouldve been proud of me, and wouldve probably bragged about it to the class and his co-workers - but I was scared of something. I didnt know what at the time - all I knew was that I had to quit being smart, and show that I had flaws too. When I got back in line and Mr. Deckman finally read through my essay, I remember him glancing up at me once in a while with a slightly confused look on his face. He marked my errors with a yellow highlighter, and gave my paper back to me, still looking a bit disappointed. Ive looked back on that incident several times, trying to find a reason why I did what I did. And I think Ive finally figured it out. I was scared. I was so, so scared of being smart, of what people would say if they found out I excelled in my studies; that at such a young age, I shut myself in. I locked my true potential in a little box and kept it hidden somewhere inside of me, afraid to open it; afraid to show people what I was really capable of. Have I learned my lesson? Yes. Yes, I have. Growing up, Ive realized that what people think of you doesnt matter - if you have the potential to be something great, go on and do it. Be it. If you have a hidden talent but youre afraid of what revealing it will do; stop overthinking it so much. I saw this amazing post on tumblr the other day, and it read: You are good at something, stop lying to yourself. Youre good at breaking down comic book plots, cooking Ramen perfectly, making your friends happy, knowing the time without looking at a clock, getting the perfect endings at RPGs, or figuring out the twist ending to movies. Dont let society tell you your talents are meaningless because they dont serve an economical purpose. Your talents reflect your interests and passions, and whats important to you is important. I was always good at English - I never, ever had a problem with anything involving the subject; but seeing my classmates make mistakes gave me the false idea that I had to prove I made mistakes too - fake mistakes. And for what? To fit in? I was young and naive, but Ive realized now that Ive got nothing to hide. If Im smart, Ill prove it to the world till the day I die. I have nothing to be afraid of; nothing to shy away from. And neither do you. Remember that this is your life - you only get one chance to live it. Dont waste your time hiding your abilities and passions - accept them; grow with them; and show em off.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:05:00 +0000
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