The Future is Yours, but I Suggest You Skip the Meatloaf by Sondra

The Future is Yours, but I Suggest You Skip the Meatloaf by Sondra - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

Hey, long time no see. Look at you! You've gotten so tall over the summer. I hear you'll be starting as a freshman at my old high school in a couple of weeks. That's so awesome. What? Yeah I was a little scared about going to a new school too, but I was also super excited about being a freshman in high school. Really, you want my advice? Well let's see, I guess it would be to remember that your future is yours and yours alone. Don't ever let it belong to your parents, your teachers or even your friends, and especially not to people who will try and bully you into thinking that you aren't good enough.

Your parents and your teachers want what is best for you. Their intentions are good, but their suggestions will be clouded by their own experiences. It's human nature, you shouldn't blame them or ignore them completely. They know the world in ways that you may not know it yet. They take their idea of you and your abilities and apply it to the world that they know, but they sometimes don't take into account what you want for yourself. Listen to them because their experience is definitely useful, but the final decision is yours. Look, I know sometimes they give you a hard time about playing around too much but I also know that they will trust you to make your own decisions.

It is really tempting to follow the crowd and go along with what your friends want to do. After all, they know you in a different way than your teachers or parents. Don't laugh, it's true. Some of them may know your most secret hopes and dreams, but their judgement should never be substituted for your own. They encourage you to play, explore and take risks, which is a part of growing up and learning who you are. Play is important -to let go of stress, to find hobbies that you love, to find people that you identify with- but there has to be a balance. You don't want to graduate from high school finding that you played constantly and never studied. On the other hand, you don't want to find that you did nothing but study then you head to college, like a robot, with no clue what makes you...well, you because it's not written in your textbook. There has to be a balance and only you know what that balance is.

Just when you think you have mastered the balance you need to make a successful go of high school you have to watch out for the bullies. Every class has them for some reason or other. They will try and break you down and make you feel like you have no self worth. Don't let them. Part of your struggle will be to not internalize what they say. It could be dangerous and counter productive, because you could wind up sabotaging yourself without any more help from the bullies. If you ever find yourself saying you can't do something, stop and take a look at that. Why? Because you can do anything. Ha, ha, yes I know it sounds a bit cheesy but you really can. If you put enough thought and work into it you actually can.

So that's what I mean when I say your future is yours. Your parents wont be allowed to relive their glory days through you because you, my friend, will be making your way down your own path. Your friends wont be able to use you as their permanent alibi or their partner in crime unless you choose to be. Those jerks who try to bully you wont be able to make you feel insignificant or small because you will know better. Once I figured out that I was both responsible for and the author of my own future it was a lot easier to let go of the fear and head on towards my next set of goals. Have fun on your first day! I'm glad that I could stop by before I leave for school. Oh yeah, also don't eat the meatloaf in the cafeteria. It's like a science experiment gone wrong.