My World in 543 Words

In a world full of endless possibilities, how do people choose the right path? Throughout my whole life people have asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And my answer to this day remains the same, “I have no idea.” Maybe the thought that I might be tied down to something that I don’t genuinely love is what makes me so unsure of my future. Or maybe the fact that I might not be able to do everything I want to do makes me skeptical of choosing a specific path.

If I explore my past, I see how all the different activities in my world - playing piano, swimming, church, and school - have molded my life. My parents laid the foundation by instilling a love of learning and a pursuit of excellence within me at a young age. So how could it be that I still don’t know what I want to do with my life?

Collage of my public school acceptances

Playing piano showed me that hard work pays off. Beginning at the age of three, I hated the instrument with a passion until I had an epiphany when I turned twelve. Now it has become an outlet to my emotions. Swimming taught me the importance of discipline, time management, and efficiency, but it also showed me important aspects of being a leader. I learned that my words and actions greatly impacted the people around me, and if I want people to be a certain way, I have to lead by example. Along the way, I figured out how to bridge the communication gap by interpreting the different “languages” that exist between swimmers and their coaches. Through swimming, I also found out that I thrive under large amounts of pressure, and love to rise to the occasion when my team needs me. Church trained me to set my priorities straight, and to make sure that I let people know what my priorities are ahead of time. It brought me to Germany once a year to life-changing conferences where I met hundreds of people from around the world. School granted me a taste of many different subjects and an opportunity to expand my knowledge. It opened the door for me to work with teachers that genuinely wanted all of their students to succeed. Those activities have become my world.
         Yet despite how much all these things have shaped my life like a potter’s skilled hand, it is as if I am an unfinished sculpture, with endless possibilities as to what I might become. My only definite dream is to lead a life where I would constantly be challenged and under pressure, so that I could perform at my best in everything I do. All of my experiences didn’t necessarily cast me into an engineer, or a lawyer, or a doctor. They created something better: a girl that is not conformed by the influences of the world, who is open to different paths, and waiting for just the right niche to positively impact the people she has met, allowing her to give back to the community that defined her.