Let's Not Glide Through Life on Autopilot by Justine

Let's Not Glide Through Life on Autopilot by Justine - March 2017 Scholarship Essay

Throughout high school, it seems like each and every day drags on forever. We all know the feeling of constantly eyeing the clock during a class period, as if staring it down will make it move any faster. But now, with only a few months left of high school, the year seems like it’s flying by. For the last four years of my life I have been aching to graduate, counting down the days to freedom. Now as I near the end of my senior year, I feel like I am not ready to move on. I think this is a common theme as we approach big changes in our lives. College, marriage, a move to a new city. We are satisfied with familiarity and the area where we can glide through life comfortably on autopilot.
An important topic that I want to talk about is the idea of not being on autopilot. I like to refer to this as being mentally present. It is simple and takes almost no effort to be physically present; anyone can sit behind a desk or show up to an extracurricular activity. Honestly, if you are going to be there, I think it’s just as important to be there mentally as it is physically. Being mentally present opens the door to get out of your comfort zone and truly experience life.
One of the times where I struggle to be mentally present is at my cheerleading practices. Sometimes we have practice everyday of the week, and it becomes really easy to just move through the motions. At the beginning of my senior year, my cheer team and I were at a camp up in Washington. The seniors were supposed to make a poster for the rest of the team and give advice for the upcoming year. Senior year is bittersweet because you’re starting a new exciting chapter, but you also have to leave an old one. I told my team to soak it all up and be mentally present throughout practices and games, because one day you’re going to wake up and realize how much you miss it.
Throughout the year I continued to remind myself and my team to be mentally present. This allowed us to persevere through injuries and long football games out in the freezing rain. Being present helped us to better notice what was going on around us and helped us to keep a better attitude. I have noticed that when you are mentally present, it helps time go by faster because you aren’t staring down a clock on autopilot.
Being mentally present is the best thing I could have learned throughout my high school career because it helped me jump out of my comfort zone, which automatically led to me making new friends, memories, and opportunities for myself. I competed and won a UCA All-American title, was given the chance to travel to London, and stepped up into a leadership role on my cheer team. I believe all of these things wouldn't have happened had I not learned how to put myself out there. Now that I have learned to be mentally present, I feel like I can confidently move forward into the next chapter of my life.