Your Life is Like a Jar by Melanie

Your Life is Like a Jar by Melanie - April 2021 Scholarship Essay

If I could go back in time to my younger self, my advice would be to take life to the fullest and pursue my happiness. This advice can often be vague, so what does it mean? I feel many people take those words and throw them away as soon as challenges come their way. The advice given would encourage me to take in all the small moments, not just the major events. If my younger self still did not understand, I would use a visual aid that I once saw that opened my eyes.
I would grab a large jar and begin to put in items such as golf balls, pebbles, sand, and a favorite drink. I would put in the golf balls first and ask if the jar was full. Then, I would put in the small pebbles next and ask once again. Next, I would put in the sand, I would ask again. At this moment, my younger self would most likely be confused and frustrated. I would ask them to have patience with me as I would explain momentarily. Finally, I would pour a drink into the jar filling the jar to its maximum point. I would explain to my younger self, "these golf balls, they represent your important aspects, not your sports like you think, but your family, body, mind, friends, pets, and passions. Next here, the pebbles, those are your smaller important things like your home and a driver's permit. Next, we have the sand, and it is just the minuscule stuff and nothing to stress over. If you were to pour all the sand in first, you would have no room for the other items. The meaning here is that you need to focus on priorities first before you can start piling on all the small things because if you do that, you will have no life left in you to fight for what matters most to you. Lastly, you have the drink that we poured in. This one might be confusing to some, as it is a part of our life we tend to forget or leave out. It represents good times. Have that afternoon lunch with your loved one, have a drink with a friend, enjoy a sunny day outside at a dog park. Learn to love yourself and put certain things first, and you will never lose sight of what life can be."
I would give myself this advice at fifteen because I traveled around the United States for my mother's job as a travel nurse. I had lost sight of what mattered to me and felt hopeless and confused. I felt as though I had to figure everything out, or it was going to be too late for me. I was afraid that if I did not get it figured out by the time I graduated high school, I would fail at life and make nothing of myself. When I had read about this philosophical ideology, it had made perfect complete sense to me and opened my eyes and mind to a world that I had been neglecting for way too long. If I had known this information long ago, maybe things would have been different for me, possibly not. Usually, I do not spend much time thinking, what if like I used to. I now focus on the future and how to pursue my happiness and make others' days better. Making others smile and happy is one of my golf balls that I had forgotten about at that age. I hope I never lose it again. I only see uphill from here and want to make this world more beautiful and happy when I leave this Earth.