Lesson Learned #2

 Follow your heart. Do whatever makes you happy.

Would you rather walk the path of a nurse or a doctor, just how your parents want you to do? Or would you rather do what makes you happy?

Your voice matters the most when it comes to your own life. Try not to do whatever everyone else tells you to do, because in the ed, you have to do things the way you want it. It's not always about others, but yourself . It's your life.


"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." - Steve Jobs

It is acceptable and considerate to take the opinions of others, but what you think is the most important of all. It wasn't that long ago where I was dependent of other people. Whenever I had a problem or had something to do, I would ask my friends, "What do I do?" "What do I say?" "Should I do this, or do that?" I never trusted my own instincts no matter what. I always believed that whatever I would think, was wrong. Just like Steve Jobs said, don't let what others say bring your 'voice' down. Everyone has the ability to go for what they want, and what they are capable of. 

It wasn't until I realized that I am my own person. No one controls my life or know me better than myself. I have the capability to follow my heart and what I do. 

Lesson Learned #1

Think, before you act.

Nothing is worse than making the wrong decisions. Although some people learn from their mistakes, they tend to make those decisions spontaneously, or under pressure. You have to think. Just think; who will it affect? What will happen next? What is the probability of things going right, or even wrong? Sure, there is the fun of doing things out of the blue, but sometimes, just sometimes you have to think carefully on certain decisions. 

I remember all these countless of times I would ditch classes in high school. I would miss a couple of classes because I felt lazy, or because my friends and I wanted to go somewhere. Skipping out on class seemed like a lot of fun before, until you end up falling behind on class. Even though I ended up passing that class with a C, I know I could have done so much better, or even receive an A. It'll all better now, I just learn from my mistakes.


Decisions for far beyond that missing a class. People tend to do stupid things in their life without making the smallest effort in thinking about what they're doing. Whether it's from buying something with money they don't even have, to drunk driving. It is inevitable for people to sometimes not think about what they do. Just remember that you have the ability to control your thoughts and actions. Go ahead and make some stupid choices sometimes, but know your limits. When you think before you act, you get a feel of who you are, and what you reveal about yourself to others. Make choices that benefit you and bring you up. You are who you make of yourself.

Embrace It

How many times a day do you spend worrying about what you can't do, rather than thinking about what you can do? 


During class we were assigned to take a self- assessment which contained questions about your personality, work ethics, and relationships. After completing the questions we were given five different words that described us. My five strengths were:


Futuristic
Arranger
Self-Assurance
Relator
Developer

What do these mean? Well, these five words describe how I act, and think.


Futuristic; People who are inspired by the future and what it could be. I have the mentality to be inspired by my goals to keep me going. I like to think of ways to improve myself for my future. I find this quite interesting actually since everyday I am always thinking of how my future might look like. I am quite fond by the fact that everything in my life is happening pretty quickly. I am in college right now, and I am working for my future. This strength defines me well. I am one who works hard for her future. I like to keep the idea that I am working towards something, which is one of the reasons why I set goals for myself; to keep me going.

Arranger; can be organized, and like to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranges for maximum productivity. When I usually work in group projects, I have the tendency to be the one student that keeps working until the work is accomplished. Rather than being set on one idea for the project, I keep thinking and working until we have multiple ideas to debate on. I never sit around being the social loafer; I like to be within the group and contributing ideas. I always look for perfection. I hate the idea of my work being 'average.' If I know I can succeed to the best of my ability, I will go past that A+. I want my work to be the best I can make it be.


Self-Assurance; feels confident in their ability to manage their own lives. I have the capability to have faith in all my strengths by being able to trust my own judgments in decision-making, while confident in my goals. If I want something, I will usually go for it. I tend to not make second judgments; I trust my own instincts. It's not healthy to go for that path, but that's how I am most of the time. In high school, if I had an idea or a suggestion to make, I go for it. I like to work for what I want no matter how long it took. I like things to go my way.

Relator; enjoys close relationships with others, and finds deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal. Within in my group of friends I am the one person who brings everyone together. I am the energetic, always smiling person who loves having a good time. I don't have many trusting friends actually. I like to keep close to very few specific people because I find it a hard time to be trust others. But with these friends I like to go on great adventures and being able to relate to them.

Developer; recognize and cultivate the potential in others. I was absolutely surprised when I found out about this certain strength. I never realized this side of me before. As a developer I like to look for the strengths in others. If I know they have potential, I praise them to keep their motivation higher. This is true because with any of my friends or peers, I am the person they go to when they need advice, or generally someone to vent to. I tell them what my thoughts are, and how I think they should improve. I have this very close 'brother' to me who feels down in the dumps at some points in his life. He is doing well lately; but I received a call last night from him telling me how he felt. Rather than just simply cheering him up, I told him about what he has gone through and to keep going through it. As a Relator, I like to help others to reach their goals.  


With these strengths I learned more about myself that I already knew, and what I didn't know before. I learned how to embrace your strengths.

Express yourself

Lately I haven't had the inspiration to write something meaningful. Even if you take a glance at my personal tumblr, it's been full of reblogs for the past few weeks. I used to be able to think of a certain topic, and be able to write about in a quickness. What happen to me? I used to write short stories when I was in middle school. I even wrote poetry for the hell of it. I guess I lost the inpiration, but I keep looking for it.

Writing is my way of being able to express my thoughts that I have bottled up inside.

 If I am having a horrible day in general, I would open up my journal and write away my thoughts; write a poem even. Nowadays I have private tumblr to rely on if I want to reveal my thoughts and opinions. I like being able to go to my laptop and type away my feelings. It makes me feel alive, as if someone is listening to me vent/rant away my thoughts. I usually don't have the courage to tell anyone (besides a selected few) what I am feeling, because I'd feel like a complaining bitch towards them. Everyone has their own life to deal with, and I don't want to bother anyone. Writing gives me that chance to be in my own world, and free myself from reality.

 I could really care less what I would write, because what I write is how I feel. How one suppose to critic how they feel like? You can't go up to someone and say, "No. You're wrong; you can't write that."

Isn't writing suppose to be about expressing yourself, and being able to put yourself into words?

"Whether or not you write well, write bravely" - Bill Stout.

I may not be the best writer in the world. Hey, I think I might even be the worst writer ever; but I love it.

P.S. Looks like I have a little something worth putting towards my essay!

Motivated to Inspire

There are so many things in our lives that we take advantage of. The little things that we learn, we don't even realize. Whether it's a lesson from a teacher, or something so simple, yet meaningful, said by a classmate. When we live our lives, do we ever stop for a second and remember every single detail that we learn, everyday? I think not.

One of the things that I came across during my classes for SRP is the meaning towards Creator vs. Victim. Do we want to be a Victim and live our lives blaming external reasons rather taking the fault for what happens our lives? Or do we want to be a Creator and live our lives taking necessary action to achieve our goals to become the best we can be? All in all, it's up to you, and how YOU make your life.


I know that I don't want to be the kind of person who sits around all day asking when things will happen, or why events won't go the way I want it to be. I want to be, and try my absolute best to be the kind of person who stands up for what I want, and goes for it. I don't want to be looked down upon for not reaching my dreams and goals. I want to looked up to and inspire people to be as successful as they can be.

I may question the path I choose to go in life, but at least I know that I am trying my hardest to be the best person I can be. 

Summer Readiness Program

Summer! Summer is supposed to be a few months off school to relax, to basically get away from the tedious school work, and to have fun right? So why be a part of the Summer Readiness Program?

For starters, SRP is a program created for any upcoming first year City College students to get ahead in their school work. As for myself, I am in it for two reasons. First, to get off my lazy butt and to be active during the Summer rather than staying at home. Also because I am required as a Price Scholar. The Price Scholarship was rewarded to students who went through a process of selection of many students in need of support.

 SRP is such an exciting experience for various of reasons. We are able to review materials, and even learn new things we are required to know before advancing to the next classes in the Fall. We are able to meet other students like ourselves, who then becomes our support group, and who shares the same goal: to succeed in college. We are able to wake up every morning, eager to go to school to work hard, and study hard for our future. I think that's what keeps me motivated through the Summer; to succeed for my future.

SRP gave me the opportunity to work for what I want and for what my future holds. I am able to come to class every morning, Monday thru Thursday and say "Hey, I am here to make something of myself, and to work hard to be successful." I have many reasons to attend SRP, but one thing that I will always love is how exciting it can be. Sure, there are tedious tasks, and it has it's moments of boredom, but I enjoy learning new materials, and bonding with my peers and teachers.

I don't know about everyone else, but I recommend SRP to all future first year college students. Why? Well think about like this, do you care about where you go in life? Do you know what you're going to do when Fall semester starts? Do you know what classes to take, or where to go for help when you need it? Well SRP assisted me in gaining that knowledge I needed to give me that 'push' for Fall semester. It helped me feel even more comfortable in starting school and being confident with my classes. So here's my question; your future is what you make of it, so why not start now?