“We should not judge people by their peak of
excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they
started.”
― Henry Ward Beecher
― Henry Ward Beecher
Walking around campus, I am no
longer an alien here anymore. Recognizing more faces, saying hello to new
friends, attending club meetings, and developing relationships with colleagues
is more than I’d ever thought I could accomplish in just four weeks in a new
environment. Not only have I learned so much from teachers and new material,
but I have already learned a lot about myself. As far as self-evaluation goes,
we all have our strengths and weaknesses to continually assess in order to keep
laying our path to success.
These past four weeks have flown
by, but I have noticed that being able to get all of my work done on time is
really helping me to be organized and be able to follow along with the course
material. But, I have noticed a change also in the way in which I think about course material. Taking two critical thinking classes has really pushed me take my thinking out of my comfort zone and consider many different angles of the material, which is promising and also intriguing. Furthermore, my positive attitude has really pushed me to reach my
fullest potential and has also helped me to wrap my head around the fact that I
won’t be good at everything, but need to still put my best effort forward. However,
in the readings for this week, one titled “Success for Students” stated, “don’t
ask what you are good at, rather, what are you willing to get good at.” Reading
this really opened my eyes as it shows that there may be potential in places
where we aren't necessarily looking.
They say change is a good thing,
and I can definitely say that I am happy with the school I chose, but I knew
from the start it would be a big adjustment from what I am used to. Coming from
a smaller town and a close family, it is a little harder for me to get used to
seeing new faces every day and not knowing as many people as I did in high
school. From this, being able to meet new people every day can be overwhelming
but I definitely enjoy seeing and hearing the diversity we have here at
Southern. To add, it has been difficult to be away from my family and knowing
they are going apple picking, or attending a family party without me. They are
my rocks, and I am blessed with such an amazing family, so I will have to
settle for phone calls and going home here and there. I understand this is the
next step and I am only bettering myself here. Therefore, I have recognized that change may be a positive thing.
Going along with the readings in
the “Tips for Studying” category, I find that if I repeat back what I need to
learn and attempt to teach it to others, I get more out of the material. This way,
it is not just straight memorization, as that should be the last resort, the
reading suggests. Also in this category, it makes certain to get across setting
a specific time to study, which I also have done these past four weeks. From now
on, however, I definitely need to fight the temptation of being on social media
sites while doing my assignments, because as the readings say, we think we can
multi-task, but end up losing focus and do much worse than if we were not on
them. My short-term goal to prevent this is shutting off my phone during the
hours I do homework or study, or keep the phone on silent and out of sight. This
goes along with the self-control reading from last week as it says, “the key is
to avoid even thinking about it in the first place.”
Being in class on the edge of my
seat, I suddenly get a heat rush and anxious as I attempt to answer a question. Initially, I have never been a big participator, but as I
get more comfortable with the class, I start coming out of my shell. I can distinguish
this as one of my downfalls, especially now in college that it actually counts
towards my grade. To cure this, I feel I need to start asking at least one
question in every class and answer two questions. If I start off small and
gradually participate more, I can reach my goal of self-improvement and
potentially learn a lot more than I would just sitting in my seat. Lastly, I
want to bring up a question in the “Eliminating Stress” category which gave me
a reality check and might actually change the way I go about each day. It asked,
“Am I living well now or preparing to live well later? If you’re not trying to
live well now, what are you waiting for?” It took me about a day to take this
concept in but the truth in it is so real. I know too well that each day is not
guaranteed for all of us and that we need to make the most out of each day we
are given. Of course, we like to look at life preparing for our future with a
positive attitude, but the reality is that life is what happens when we are
busy making other plans. I like having these reality checks from time to time
so I don’t lose sight of what really matters. Being the most we can be today is
what matters.
Now that I have set goals and devised
my plans of action, I need to follow them exactly and once reached, set new
goals!
Are you living well
now? How can we continuously create and complete goals so that motivation is
not lost? How can we use self-evaluation to better ourselves?
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