Stop and look around once in a while by Leila

Stop and look around once in a while by Leila - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

You don't need to rush around all the time. If I could advise my past self on one thing, it would be that. She doesn't know that hurrying will cause her to end up in two leg braces across five months. My past self doesn't know that one day, while she's stressed at work and trying to get people checked out quickly, she'll run the wrong customer's card and have to contact them to fix it. She doesn't know yet that she rushes through the SAT and loses 50 points on her best section.

These experiences didn't flip a switch in my brain until I saw the 1986 classic film, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". The first time I watched it, I was stuck on my couch with a busted leg and a doctor's note telling me not to go to school again until the next day. I realized that while Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane deliberately took time out of their school day to go be kids, I was rotting at home because I had been rushing TO school. Even then, I may have missed the message if it wasn't for one of the most famous quotes from the movie: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

My brain started whirring and went 'KABOOM' just then. All the puzzle pieces slid into place. It occurred to me that since "life moves pretty fast", I shouldn't be attempting to outrun it by being so uptight and stressed all the time. I had been acting like a hamster on its wheel. Since then, I made changes. I picked up my hobbies again. I started being late to school just every once in a while. I talked to more people. Something as silly as watching an old movie while eating kettle corn changed my perspective on my life, and made me change for the better.