A Word of Advice by Landon

A Word of Advice by Landon - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

The one piece of advice I would give my past self is to put away the fear, own my
confidence and talk to new people. There were many times in my past where I have missed
opportunities to talk with someone that I thought looked cool or looked like they would be fun
to spend time with, but every time I would keep my mouth shut. I almost always found out
that the person would have loved to talk with me.

For example, I attend a yearly convention in Atlanta and there are thousands of
people that attend these events, and they are supposed to be lots of fun. While there, I would
see people I wanted to talk to, however I was either intimidated or thought they would not
want to talk with me, so I made no attempt to have a conversation with them. However, when I
would find them later through a social media post and talk to them, I found out that they
would have loved to talk with me if I had just had the courage to initiate contact.

I have let my fear of rejection keep me from saying anything and have missed so many
opportunities to spend time with incredibly fun people, who would leave lasting memories.
So, if I was to tell my past self-something, it would be to try talking because saying nothing
can be worse than awkwardly starting a conversation. At least then I would actually be talking
with them. I would say to not let your fear prevent you from making a new possible friend or
having an amazing night.