Junior Year is supposed to be "the year." The year where everyone finally feels the true meaning of stressed and where people find themselves. The year where we find our purpose in life, or our purpose as a person. Where we are able to connect with others and make new friendships.
Well, that's what all of my friends have been saying. To me, Junior Year is special. This year is when I finally find my balance, where I'm able to explore my future and my present, while growing and improving as a person. This is the year where I finally find everything I need to get ready, and where I learn from my most important mistakes.
Coming into Junior year, I'm going to be honest, I was very nervous. I didn't know what to expect, what to hope for, and especially who I would get as teachers and how they would help me and everyone on the team. There's something really special that I've learned every year, and something that has always stuck with me since I started high school, and frankly, it's a little cheesy, considering it does come from a TV show.
Well, that's what all of my friends have been saying. To me, Junior Year is special. This year is when I finally find my balance, where I'm able to explore my future and my present, while growing and improving as a person. This is the year where I finally find everything I need to get ready, and where I learn from my most important mistakes.
Coming into Junior year, I'm going to be honest, I was very nervous. I didn't know what to expect, what to hope for, and especially who I would get as teachers and how they would help me and everyone on the team. There's something really special that I've learned every year, and something that has always stuck with me since I started high school, and frankly, it's a little cheesy, considering it does come from a TV show.
"Make a plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails. Throw away the plan."
The one thing that always helps me keep going about this quote is that it's very real, and something that people tend to overlook. You can't expect everything to go perfectly according to how you want it. That's impossible, and frankly, a little crazy. But we can expect your plan to go off the rails. We can expect changes, twists and turns, new opportunities, but we can't stick to the same plan forever. That would limit our purpose, our opportunities and everything we've grown to learn. If everyone sticks to something just because they really want it to go that way, they're not going to get the best / fulfilled life possible. And they're going to miss out on a lot of opportunities.
This is why, this year, I'm expecting my plan to go wrong, in one way or another. I'm expecting to make mistakes, to slip up, to do something wrong, because that's where I know I'll grow. Yes, I know what you might be thinking, But Junior year is so important, and making mistakes is not okay, because colleges look at everything! Yes, I know. I know that some colleges look at 11th and 12th grade report cards, but even though I might make a mistake, I need to be ready to fix it as soon as possible. That's why I'm not sticking to my plan of having straight A's, of participating in every discussion, in never being late (we're all going to be late at least once), and perfectly finishing my work. I know because we all make mistakes, and frankly, my plan has a lot of impossibles. Unless I can get some sort of power to help me get through everything really fast and to perfection, then I can't do it.
But what I can do, is integrate myself in everything to the best of my ability. Doesn't matter if I don't know enough, I'll learn from others, from my classmates, from what they share. It doesn't matter if I'm not an expert in a certain Biology concept, if I don't know my Amendments by heart, it doesn't matter. Because I can learn, I can grow, I can help myself and help others, and I become a better version of myself. Within these different experiences in class, I'll get to learn and become a better person. Not only for myself, but for others as well.
This is why, this year, I'm expecting my plan to go wrong, in one way or another. I'm expecting to make mistakes, to slip up, to do something wrong, because that's where I know I'll grow. Yes, I know what you might be thinking, But Junior year is so important, and making mistakes is not okay, because colleges look at everything! Yes, I know. I know that some colleges look at 11th and 12th grade report cards, but even though I might make a mistake, I need to be ready to fix it as soon as possible. That's why I'm not sticking to my plan of having straight A's, of participating in every discussion, in never being late (we're all going to be late at least once), and perfectly finishing my work. I know because we all make mistakes, and frankly, my plan has a lot of impossibles. Unless I can get some sort of power to help me get through everything really fast and to perfection, then I can't do it.
But what I can do, is integrate myself in everything to the best of my ability. Doesn't matter if I don't know enough, I'll learn from others, from my classmates, from what they share. It doesn't matter if I'm not an expert in a certain Biology concept, if I don't know my Amendments by heart, it doesn't matter. Because I can learn, I can grow, I can help myself and help others, and I become a better version of myself. Within these different experiences in class, I'll get to learn and become a better person. Not only for myself, but for others as well.
