No one experience makes you, you. All of the experiences I have gone through, from formative childhood experiences, to the complex decisions I make now have molded me into the person I am today.
We often think of important life-changing events as things that happen all at once. This is often true, but much of our lives are changed through processes that tend to be much more subtle. Time management and long-term decision-making usually end up dictating the types of things we end up doing, and consequently determines the type of person we are. An additional hour of an activity every day might not sound like a lot, but it adds over one thousand hours to that activity in less than 3 years, which is enough to make it a very serious part of your life. What you spend your time on influences the things you get good at and the things you know. It is one of the things that makes you who you are.
The decision to join football did not have an immediate impact on me. At first, I just went to the practices and daydreamed half the time before going home. I was not immediately good at football and I didn't have much reason to play besides wanting to try a new sport. As time went on and I racked up hundreds of hours, I got better at the game, formed new friendships, and forged new ideals. Now I see high school football as a part of me. That one decision to play football and all the experiences I lived through have helped me become who I am today. Football introduced me to weightlifting and the NFL. While many of my friends came from football. Football has introduced me to a whole new world and given me new opportunities I had never even thought of. While I have done many sports throughout my life, the internet has also been a huge influence on me.
Internet usage has probably been the activity I have engaged in the most as a teenager. While some parts have been negative, the ease of access to information has encouraged me to become an information junkie. And While high school is important to learn the basics I will need in life and college, my academic interests have been formed by information provided on the internet. Many of my interests and activities I now enjoy spending time on were introduced to me by the internet. One of the things I was interested in early on was animals and the internet helped introduce me to them.
It was also the reason I have been volunteering with animals since I was fourteen years old. Working with animals has given me an appreciation for animals and is like a form of meditation for me. While it might be manual labor, it acts as an escape from technology and the overstimulation that comes from the modern world. Working with the animals also gave me a view into what gives work value other than money. The bonds you make working with other people or volunteers and the value you get from giving back to the community can give your work value.
These are just some of the things that have pushed me to become who I am today. The challenges, experiences, and decisions I have made have caused me to end up here. I may not have seen it when I was younger but many of the small choices and shifts in my life have turned into major pieces of my life. Looking forward I expect the decisions and things I study in college to be the guiding force that will cause me to become a new person.
As much as we might try to simplify our lives into categories to better understand ourselves and the world around us I will never be able to understand every part of myself. I can't interpret the impact of every choice and every decision.
However, introspection can be a powerful tool that allows us to look within ourselves and piece together an idea of what makes us who we are. Understanding the impacts of the decisions I make has allowed me to better understand myself and how I can better my future.
Shoutouts:
Dad/Mom: Thank you for raising me and being there for me all those years.
Football team: Thank you for being a guiding force in my life.
Mrs. Collins Thank you for being there for me even when life gets challenging.
Mrs. Blanchette: Thank you for being a great advisor.