Thinking Outside the Box by Bria

Thinking Outside the Box by Bria - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

“Think outside the box”; we all have heard this phrase before. In all of my seventeen years of life I have heard an abundant amount of little words and phrases usually told to me by older people, but this one phrase will always stick with me. I have been told this while working on various projects and activities all throughout school, from my second grade plant cell project, all the way up to my big solar system project I needed to get an A on to pass eleventh grade science.
In the past I would become so frustrated because I did not want my projects to be like everyone else’s, I wanted my projects to catch my teacher’s eye, I wanted my project to be different. My mother would always tell me, “Bria just think outside the box”, but it was not as simple as she made it seem. To me, thinking outside the box means to be different, innovative, creative, and flexible.
To be different you have to be able to see diverse perspectives and be able to incorporate them in everything you do; this makes you different because most people only incorporate their thoughts into things. You have to be innovative, and to be innovative you have to bring new, fresh ideas to the table. To think outside the box means, most of all, being creative. Being creative suggests that you do not doubt or fear your work, you can solve problems in new ways, you are not afraid to take risks, and you create things people have never seen or thought of before. Last, but certainly not least, to think outside of the box means to be flexible. You have to be able to “roll with the punches” and handle all the hardships that come along with everything in life. This is what it means to think outside the box to me.