Ten Years: A Lot of Time to Do a Lot of Good by Rachael

Ten Years: A Lot of Time to Do a Lot of Good by Rachael - December 2015 Scholarship Essay

Ten Years: A Lot of Time to do a Lot of Good.
Three thousands six hundred and fifty days. Eight hundred and seventy six thousand hours, five million two hundred fifty six thousand minutes. Three hundred fifteen billion four hundred million seconds.
Ten years is a lot of time. Yes, in the grand scheme of the entire universe it is next to nothing. But to someone like me, in which ten years is half of their lifetime...it is an insurmountable amount of time. Three hundred fifteen billion four hundred million seconds. In the moment, it seems impossible for that amount of time to pass by.
But no matter how impossible time seems to be, one constant factor of the universe is that it will always keep going. Even if it is unimaginable right now, I know that ten years will pass in the blink of an eye. I plan to take full advantage of every second that this beautiful life has to offer me...and I know that with three hundred fifteen billion four hundred million of them...I can accomplish a whole lot.
In ten years, I see myself having just graduated from graduate school. Knowledge is power, and by that point I will have been in school for about twenty five years. That is a lot of power. I intend to use that knowledge to my best ability to help people. In ten years, I hope to be a passionate biologist or psychologist dedicating their life to improving others. Both biology and psychology are passions of mine. They are both fields in which someone can really make a difference. They are very similar, and both have their foundations in science. I hope to be using my acquired skills to be helping people in their day to day lives and also the world overall. I truly believe that one person can make a difference. I believe that there is no reason that one person cannot be me. Whether it be solving problems with our global climate , advancing medical technology to help cancer patients, or something as simple as helping veterans feel like real people after coming back from war, I think that I have the potential to really help people. I believe that everyone has the potential to really help people as long as they have the ambition and endurance. And I do not see myself running out of that in ten years.
My career will not be the only factor in my life in ten years though. I plan to settle down. I plan to settle down...but not give up. I want to have a husband, and maybe even kids, but I am not going to let that end my passion for life. I plan to be as active in my community in the future as I am now. I plan to travel regularly, to see the ingenuity that humans and nature have come up with. I also want to see the destruction and depression that they have caused as well. I am under no impression that people and nature are perfect. It really is a survival of the fittest type of world. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that in order to stay with reality. That does not change the fact though, that I think that people are inherently good.
Besides traveling, I want to continue volunteering. I want to continue to work at the animal shelter, to remain working with and mentoring youth, to stay zealous with my effort on environmental protection. Volunteering brings me so much joy, and I cannot picture myself in ten years without picturing me volunteering as well.
In ten years, I see myself as a lot of things. A psychologist. A biologist. A wife. A mother. A world traveler. An animal lover. A volunteer. An adventurer. A hiker. A baker. A crafter. A gourmand. A person who makes a difference.
Ten years:—Three thousands six hundred and fifty days. Eight hundred and seventy six thousand hours, five million two hundred fifty six thousand minutes. Three hundred fifteen billion four hundred million seconds. That is a lot of time in which I can change the world for the better. And one thing is for sure: I do not plan on wasting a single second of it.