Giving Oneself Grace by London

Giving Oneself Grace by London - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

If I had to give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to live slowly and intentionally, and to give myself grace. Junior year was perhaps my most impactful in terms of learning about myself, my capabilities, and most importantly, my limits. For most of my life, I never had to go above and beyond to outperform my peers academically. I was effortlessly among the top of my class, naturally athletic, and innately artistic. I was a hard worker who always saw results, and I became convinced that I was somewhat invincible. Success yielded exclusive access to higher level classes, and as the content of my coursework grew increasingly abstract and difficult, I failed to carve out ample time for myself to grow fully confident with these harder concepts. Previously, only a few hours of studying seemed sufficient, and suddenly entire days felt too short. I punished myself with a daunting pile of tasks and then worsened my sentence by questioning why I was not successful in all of them. During my junior year, I was balancing a part-time job multiple days a week, as well as indoor and outdoor track. I was taking not only a full schedule of classes, but the most rigorous course load that I physically could. For both social and academic reasons, I was in a bad place mentally, and this negative headspace made me fail to recognize that it was not my ineptitude affecting my performance, but the lack of time I felt I had: no time to sleep, no time to do activities that brought me joy, no time to study the way I wanted to. Once I took a few items off my plate and gave myself time, I saw an improvement in my performance, stress levels, and overall happiness. I regret not giving myself that grace sooner. If I could tell my bright-eyed, overly ambitious younger self one piece of life-saving advice, it would be to slow down. It would be to prioritize success, but also joy. It would be to grant myself opportunities, fun, and most importantly, grace.