New Year, New Me by Haley

New Year, New Me by Haley - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

This year, my New Year's resolution was to reduce stress and focus more on the positives in my life. I normally don't make New Year's resolutions because most people never follow through with them because it's so hard to make those kinds of lifestyle changes, but last year was the most stressful year I’ve ever had and I want to make sure this year isn’t a repeat.
At the beginning of last year I was stressed about my grades, my GPA, and my class rank. I know that this is normal stress brought upon by the end of junior year but it’s especially so at my school, where the top 10%-15% of my class is incredibly competitive. I was extremely worried about how I was going to fall by the end of the year. Also towards the end of the year I went through a pretty rough break up which I know isn’t really an academic issue but the stress it caused me definitely interfered with my school work for a while. When the summer came I was really trying to find a job but for whatever reason I couldn’t find one, and it was just beginning to occur to me that I was going to have to pay for college and it would be much tougher if I had no money saved up. Once school started back it was time to start applying for colleges and start looking at scholarships and financial aid options. Up until that point I was certain that I was going to go to NC State but once I toured UNC Charlotte I wasn’t so sure anymore. That brought upon more stress in trying to figure out which school would be better for me and which school would be the better option financially. Winter break was probably the tipping point for me stress-wise because of the amount of work I had. I was assigned two Spanish projects and two English projects along with working full-time. I made it through 2015 but it was without a doubt the most trying year of my life.
This year I’ve decided to focus on the fact that I’ve worked extremely hard to get where I am and I deserve to relax a little. I have no control over anyone else but myself and if my best effort doesn’t earn me as good of a grade as theirs then there’s no need to stress about it. Stress only hinders my ability to work, which is the opposite of what I’m trying to accomplish. By focusing on the positives, I won’t be bogged down by the things that I can’t or didn’t do better than other people, which will allow me to be happier and more confident in myself and in my work.