A Changing Mindset
Change is important. In my case, change was extremely pivotal to my growth as a young man.
Graduating high school and going to college was a huge transition, and I knew that I had to move along with it.
Back when I attended high school I was always to myself, I had very little confidence in who I was, and I was dependent on other people to do things for me. Since I was the youngest of my two sisters, growing up I always had things done for me and I never had to worry about doing things on my own. My mother would always baby me, and my oldest sister was an extension of her. My oldest sister, Latasha is 6 years older, and my second oldest, Shaniqua is 3 years apart. I just never felt it was important to be aware of certain things if my parents and older sisters were going to do it for me. It was lazy on my part, and having that negative characteristic stunted my maturity growth. People who were my age were always more aware than I was and there were just certain questions that I didn’t have the answers to.
Having a nonchalant attitude unfortunately affected my high school progress because I didn’t truly apply myself to my academics. When I would earn a bad report card or progress report, my parents would lecture me on how important school was and then I would clean up my act, but revert right back to my old ways. It was like I cared about how well I did, but at the same time I didn’t care, so that half and half mindset caused me to be inconsistent. Teachers would always tell my parents and I about how much potential I had but that never mattered in my mind. I didn’t realize how important it was, to put my best foot forward in school at the time. No matter if my parents took away my valuables, their philosophy never hit home with me until graduation day.
I remember waking up on graduation day, and having that surreal feeling going through my body, and started to be in denial. The feeling of being in denial came about because I knew once it was over, the real world was waiting. The moment, I walked up to the stage to grab my high school diploma, that’s when reality started to kick in. From that moment on, I had to make a decision to either embrace the reality, or fail. I made up in my mind, that once college started I was going to truly put a consistent effort towards school and give it my all. I started to mature and look at things from a different perspective.
When I started at Housatonic, my mindset changed and I became focused, but most importantly consistent. I changed my studying habits, started sitting in front of the class, and became more of a dedicated student. For the first time in my life, I found out what it was like to be independent. The transition from being a kid, to a young man was huge for me through the process. I got a real job, got my own car, learned how to use a credit card, and all in all learned how to be an adult. My family was still present for guidance and support, but I didn’t have to depend of them as much. I saw the urgency in my situation and I seized it. College created a new me, because I decided to adapt, rather than perish.
It took me a while to understand the importance of education and independence, but sometimes it takes life changing experiences to change a mindset.