Trust the Process by John

Trust the Process by John - December 2022 Scholarship Essay

Many times, us humans look for instant gratification. We expect that when we do something, we instantly get rewarded because of it. However, most things in life aren't like that. IN fact, two such processes this year helped to cement this into my mind: my grades and competitive running.
As a highly competitive high school track and field and cross country runner, I have very high expectations of myself. Those expectations aren't a bad thing; in fact, they have helped me get to the place I am today. However, by definition, high expectations are difficult to achieve, so I will not always perform up to my expectations. Before, I used to be hard on myself after such performances. However, this year, I started to accept that I couldn't have my best day every day and take the bad performances in stride, and instead of beating myself up over not doing as well as I hoped, I would use it as motivation for the future. The result: I'm doing better than ever, and I'm enjoying it even more than I was before. In fact, I've become much more consistent, which can probably be attributed by me not trying to do too much and instead accepting what happens. In running, there is no instant gratification: the reward often comes several months after you start putting in the work. Now, on the bad days, I simply take them in stride and put my trust what I have already done and what I will do.
Additionally, my grades helped teach me to forgo instant gratification for long-term results. Earlier this year, my grades were below where I wanted them to be, and they stayed that way for most of the semester. However, I didn't panic, but instead stayed tuned into my classes and learned what I needed to. And guess what? In the end, my grades turned out very good, while I was able to take advantage of everything I learned to do very well on my end-of-year AP tests. Because the instant gratification was not there, I know many others would have given up or tried less, but I trusted that the benefits would come, which of course, they did.
This isn't just a repurposing of a euphemism used for years by the Philadelphia 76ers. It's something which has really been reinforced into myself during the course of this year, as I've seen the benefits this mindset has had. As a result of this, I'm almost always happy, which other people really notice, especially magnified by others who are mentally at the end of their leash due to stress or those afflicted by senioritis. Late this year, one of my friends asked me if I'm ever angry because he had never seen me like that. The truth is, sometimes I am. After all, I'm still human. However, those moments are few and far between because I'm not worried about much. I know that if I do what I'm supposed to do, I can accomplish any goal I want to, even if there appears to be setbacks. After all, I trust the process.