To Think Outside of the Box by Adreana

To Think Outside of the Box by Adreana - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

My teachers, parents, and friends often recommend that I think outside of the box. However, when I undertake this task, I often find that it is extremely difficult. To think outside of the box, is something I always aspire to do. I am often “stuck inside the box”, so to say, whenever it comes to thinking or approaching an issue or a problem in new way. However, when the occasion comes where I do think outside the box, I find that I have accomplished several tasks, and solved several problems that I probably would not have accomplished had I only considered one perspective or idea.
To think outside the box means, at least to me, to consider an idea that not only sounds absurd, but is creative. The reason I define thinking outside the box as absurd is because I am not creatively geared, and while I wish I was, I am not. So, when I discover I have an alternative plan to an issue, I often find myself opposing the more creative plan, arguing that it could not possibly work, when in fact it almost always does. I often find myself trying to think logically, or trying to consider something pragmatically, and I find that I nourish the idea until I discover this idea clearly will not work. When thinking outside the box, I think outside of my normal comfort zone and consider alternative ideas. I begin to become more creative, and once this happens I begin to spring forth ideas I had not thought of before. These ideas keep coming until I have solved the problem.
I can recall several times where I have thought outside of the box, and I consider them some of my greatest accomplishments. For example, one time I was assigned the task of helping several bored five-year-old children understand a difficult, and equally boring concept, so while I initially considered just reading the material and hoping the children understood it, I thought of ways to make the material fun and engaging. In the end, this method proved to be a success, and I often refer myself to this example whenever I argue against an idea that I would not have initially considered.
I aspire to think outside of the box. I think that creativity ought to be valued, because it can often help solve problems when someone like me is “stuck in the box”. Alternative ideas, ideas that I usually do not think of, should be equally valued, and I should learn the importance of not only, seemingly pragmatic ideas, but also those ideas I often find ‘absurd’.