By Jenna Sands Forum editor
I watched my sister and both of my brothers go through college, so I guess you could say I kind of knew what to expect when I went to college. I learned from their mistakes, as well as some of my own, but I find myself making the same mistake as things change in my life.
The mistake I constantly make is not taking opportunities that are right in front of me. It’s not that I don’t see the opportunities, such as running for a position in APO or joining a new club, I’m just too nervous and shy to take them. I tell myself that I have time and I can take advantage of these opportunities after a while when I feel more comfortable, but time always runs out. I always get to the point where I am comfortable to do these things when it is too late.
I keep telling myself now that I’ll one day learn from this mistake, and become more comfortable in situations faster than I used to when I was in high school. But now I am almost done with college, and I am still the same way. I can only hope that one day I’ll learn to force myself out of my comfort zone before the opportunity is gone.
This is something you can’t learn from watching older siblings brave life and make various mistakes.
Everyone makes mistakes, and while it is good to learn from others’ mistakes, people must allow themselves to make their own mistakes. Following the paths of others and being careful not to do anything wrong won’t get you anywhere in life. You have to put yourself out there and let yourself make mistakes. It may be terrifying to blindly walk through life without anyone to follow, but you will get much more out of life if you take control and follow your own path, not someone else’s.
This is something that I have discovered, and something that I am still learning how to do. Of course I look up to my siblings, but I know now that I need to stop watching them and concentrate on my own life and my own destinations.
I watched my siblings go through college, and now I have watched them all move away from home.
We all may have made some of the same mistakes in college, but as I have watched them begin their lives outside of college I have seen that their experiences are so vastly different. My siblings went their own directions, and I realized that I need to go my own way as well and embrace the fact that I will make mistakes, but I will learn from them. As I go into my senior year in college, it is my goal to pave my own path and not be afraid to take a chance, even if I might make a mistake.
The editorials of The Quill reflect the views of individual members of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire editorial board or of the university. The content of the Forum page is the responsibility of the editor in chief and the Forum editor
