Life Changing by Brianna

Life Changing by Brianna - October 2020 Scholarship Essay

As high school students, we are forced to read a book every year, and it was an inner battle because I despised dedicating time to what I saw as a group of useless words that formed a phrase. Because it seemed so insignificant at the time, I would try to avoid books, especially the nonfiction books. When it was "coerced" upon us to read a non-fictional book in my 2020 school year, my mind started to spin, my brain started to shut down, and my eyes became very drowsy. It seemed as if the words "book" and "non-fictional" created an attention malfunction and I needed to be restarted. But as I had signed up for AP Language, I knew that I had to make an effort (felt more like a sacrifice) but I bought the book and opened it up. It led me to a land filled with words of wisdom. Mindset, written by Carol Dweck is life changing. To this day, it is insane to me how a book can change a persons’ view. I was always told reading makes you knowledgeable, but I always disagreed and decided to do math instead, thinking that numbers were the only thing that accomplish critically thinking about the world, but I was very wrong.

It seldom happens when I open a book and my eyes are glued to it. It seldom happens when all I do is ask questions that reflect off of what I am reading. As I read Mindset questions raced through my mind, Do I have a growth mindset? Am I not allowing other to have a growth mindset? Do I feel like a failure at times? This book quickly opened the doors to the empty Barnes and Nobles in my head, urging me to fill up the empty shelves with more books. Mindset quickly not only became my favorite book but encouraged me to read more and take a different approach of life. Life seemed to be so difficult and frustrating and I quickly gave up when I fell. But after reading Mindset, I not only learned that you should get up and continue the roller coaster of life, but to cherish each fall because this is what makes a person stronger. Mindset taught me the true difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset and approaching life through the growth mindset will only lead to maturity and independence, two characteristics I truly value.

Between family, teachers, and friends, one of them is bound to have a fixed mindset. This mindset will never encourage or lead to a successful and content life. I was that family member, teacher, and friend that had a fixed mindset. For example, I always acted like my brother’s teacher and enforced upon him the idea that having a fixed mindset was correct. "Do not fail, do not fall, and if you do you are a failure." This was my motto, until I realized every individual needs to fall, every individual needs to learn that after that fall, the race of life has not stopped, and you must keep going. Falling is imperfectly perfect and is needed for personal growth and development. When I realized this, I understood that I should teach my brother that when he falls it will only affect him for a second because the next second he will get up and overcome anything. Being an older sister, the last thing you want to see is your best friend fall, but if I wanted him to mature and grow, I needed to show him that after the fall there is only one way to go, up.

The book Mindset deserves so much more credit than I can give it. It unraveled the beauty of literature to me while teaching me about escaping the fixed mindset to a greater mindset: The growth mindset. Through the growth mindset, I am not defined by the mistakes that I have made nor the fails that have tried to break me, instead I am defined by how I reflect and continue going. My feet have a race to run, the race of life, and it definitely has not stopped. Along the way, I will fall get bruises and try to give up, but I'll always reflect on what Dweck said, "A company that cannot self-correct, cannot thrive" and I am willing to self-correct to thrive for my company, my mindset.