Progress Is Not Linear by Michelle

Progress Is Not Linear by Michelle - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

If I could build a time machine to speak to a former version of myself, the version that first comes to mind would be me in senior year. What normally is a momentous occasion for others in taking their first step into adulthood and the freedoms associated with it, was instead a year of dread. All around me, I overheard the chatting of classmates and what they wished to do after graduating. One wanted to go to their dream school, another desired to move out of their parent’s house. They seemed so sure of what they wanted in life, a pressure that continued to grow more and more as the school year progressed. Teachers were telling us to think seriously of what we wanted to do for a living in addition to monthly meetings with career counselors who met up with us to see how we were progressing. I knew that I wanted to go to school but unlike my peers, I never had a dream college in mind or a dream job in fact. I had ideas of jobs that I could see myself doing but none that I can’t imagine myself loving. The months passed by so quickly and before I knew it, it was time to start applying to universities. The tremendous pressure along with the uncertainty of what the future held for me led to the inevitable nervous breakdown on a random Saturday that I was already falling behind in the human race. I would come that Saturday to visit my tear-covered self to tell her this one phrase: "Don't compare your progress to others, instead take your time”. My fear of being behind was what led me to blow up and be so fear-stricken that I did not use my time to look for a job instead running away. Although I am happy with the choices I have made since that day, I would have liked the reassurance that I will always turn another year older but that does not mean that I have to age with the same skill set. I can make the decision to pick up a new hobby, leave an unsatisfying job, find a new lover, or simply learn how to use a curler because there is no defined timeline to being human.