What is the box? by Yoonji

What is the box? by Yoonji - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

Throughout elementary school and middle school, my teachers often told us to “think outside the box” when they wanted us to write something creative or come up with ideas for projects and writings. Something that I usually don't think about, or something that isn’t too out there for everyone to see. Because of this, I always believed that “thinking outside the box” meant, to be creative by going out of our usual ways. However, as the years went by, I realized that thinking outside the box isn’t as complicated as I thought it was or as I was told.
I believe that although everyone thinks differently, because our society places these standards of “normal”, “common”, “acceptable”, and “good and right” in many things, people tend to follow it, and actually believe that these standards are right. However, I strongly believe that “thinking outside the box” is what helps us to get out of that boundary, get out of this box, given by the society and encourages us to have and express our own thoughts and values. It’s not something special, too creative, or something that we have to get by going out of our ways. Instead, it’s just our own personal application, thoughts, and standards that we didn’t know that we had or never really expressed fully.