Advice For My Past Self by Miriam

Advice For My Past Self by Miriam - September 2022 Scholarship Essay

A piece of advice I would give my past self is to “not care what other people think”. In middle school, we prioritize becoming friends with the “populars”. We seek the feeling of being admired and envied and instead we don’t focus on what’s really important, our academics. We value our classmates’ opinions so much that many children have gone through extremities to be able to fit society’s “norm”. Children shouldn’t be having to worry about diets, pills and eating disorders, which in many cases leads to body dysmorphia. We often stay up at night crying and wondering to ourselves “why do I look like this?” or “is there something wrong with me?” My past self has gone through so many nights like these.
It wasn’t until about 2 years ago that I decided to put myself first and not care about other peoples’ opinions. All of their cruel and nasty comments will soon become irrelevant and insignificant. Now, I only worry about myself and how I can have a successful future. My biggest priority at the moment is graduating high school and continuing my education. I wish my younger self would have taken this advice sooner and enjoyed life instead of constantly being worried about my appearance. Who cares about what shoes I was wearing or if my clothes were expensive or not. Because when I’m wearing my white coat and you come into my office and refer to me as Dr. Villarreal, none of that will matter.