Balance is Found Right Here, Right Now by Wiseness

Balance is Found Right Here, Right Now by Wiseness - July 2024 Scholarship Essay

Aristotle introduced the concept of a ‘Golden Mean’ in his writing about Nicomachean ethics, emphasizing the middle ground between two means. For example, bravery is the golden mean between the extremes of recklessness and fear/cowardice.

For most of my short life, I’ve been unbalanced. Achieving good grades, winning a cybersecurity competition, and achieving a high SAT score brought me fleeting happiness. Conversely, receiving low grades, low scores, or failing at several math and computer science competitions significantly dampened my spirits. Life happens sometimes, for reasons we can’t predict, or control, but can only weather. I cannot have absolute power over outcomes, yet somehow I let them dictate my happiness.

I used to view life as a series of steps toward future goals—good grades for a good college for a good job and so on. With a constant focus on an outcome, I never got to experience the process of getting there. I only experienced momentary happiness once each mundane box was checked. As Aristotle said, the golden mean is the balance between two extremes. What is the balance between over-emphasis on the future and hedonism? It’s to live in the present. It’s desireless action. It’s to completely immerse myself in the task at hand—to lose sight of what the outcome of the task is.

During my junior year, I had a very early quarter-life crisis. I was struggling with tests, making friendships, and learning to write effectively, and I could only see those negative results with each attempt. I had enough of my joy being robbed and decided to do something different—something to take me away from my stress. I, along with my clubmates in Sources of Strength, decided to create a mental health carnival for my school to alleviate our end-of-the-year stress. Though, ironically, I experienced some stress planning and coordinating it, internally I felt at peace. I experienced an almost grandparent-like joy seeing students who never talked to each other connect over the crafts, activities, and disk golf. If I had been focused on the results of this event—how many people came, how much money was raised—I would never have witnessed the beginning of a true community at my school. I’m grateful to experience this lesson, this principle, allows me to work hard, and not feel like I’m working at all. In my future endeavors—whether it be my upcoming job as a facilities technician, my future involvement in the ethics club, or the next mental health carnival—I plan to not only experience but focus on every aspect. To me, that is contentment—that is balance.