To Thine Own Self be True by Eleanor

To Thine Own Self be True by Eleanor - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

To thine own self be true. Those words constantly resonated with when I read Hamlet in my AP English IV class. This was partly due to the universal truth, but more so due to the fact that my high school English teacher, Mrs. Palmer, reiterated the phrase countless times. As time passed, however, the monotony of the phrase transformed into comprehension. The truth behind Shakespeare’s words were starting to sink in.
“To thine own self be true. Never allow yourself to fabricate a lifestyle that’s not your own. The way that Hamlet lost himself, by assuming a different persona, is a real threat to all of our lives, if we choose to deceive ourselves. But if you stay true to yourself, you won’t live with any regrets.” These words jump-started a train of thoughts in my mind as I applied them to my own life. There are many, if not too many, moments in life where we’re pressured into doing things that we actually don’t want to do. It could range from something as small as the way we dress to the major we pursue in college. Once I understood this dilemma, I became aware of the need to live my life in a way that pleases me, rather than everyone else.
To thine own self be true. I’ve been lucky to not only hear, but understand those words at a young age. Nevertheless, others haven’t been as fortunate. A few days after Mrs. Palmer’s motivational speech, she had presented an article to us, stating that the number one regret of dying patients is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me” (The Huffington Post). Immediately, I was glad that my teacher took a few minutes to divert from the topic of Hamlet to give us a valuable life lesson. The areas in my life where I wasn’t being true to myself became obvious. To sum it all up, I was distracted. I took on so many activities to the point where I created an extremely busy schedule for myself. And while I did enjoy many of the programs I was in, I resented the fact that I had to give up so many things that captured my heart from the very beginning. I wanted to write songs, sew, refine my piano skills, read more books, spend more time with my loved ones, and research the many topics that interest me. Most of all, I wanted to take life slow, instead of being pulled in a hundred different directions, with no room to breathe.
To thine own self be true. These words that Mrs. Palmer constantly reiterated went from being an everyday phrase to being a concept that transformed the way I live. Of course, it may be hard to truly live up to this motto at times. There will always be an element, whether it’s a person, a place, a thing, or yourself, that’ll attempt to divert you onto a path you never meant to follow. However, I’ve been forewarned, and I’ve been fortunate to have had a teacher who not only values the quality of our education, but the quality of our lives.

Citation
Rosen, Katerina. "The Top 5 Regrets Of The Dying." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 33 Aug. 2013. Web. 15 July 2016.