Su Yee Htun, Period 7, 9/29/21

Goal Setting & Growth


At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?


As a senior in my first semester of the school year, there are a lot of stressful events happening and deadlines that need to be met. This leads to one of my goals, which is to fill out my common application which is due very soon, especially for the schools where I want to apply with early action. Another major goal of mine is to gain weight, preferably to get back to 100 lbs by the end of the year. I have always struggled with my weight, especially during quarantine where I lost weight, most likely due to me losing any muscle weight I had because I did not go outside as much as I used to. Lastly, I want to get an afterschool part-time job by the end of the fall season. I did not get the chance to work at an internship or find a job over the summer so I want to work during the school year to compensate for the lost time.



How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)


There are many things that have proven to be obstacles as I am trying to achieve my goals. For example, school itself is a constant obstacle for my first goal of filling out my common application. I haven't had a lot of free time to keep researching and solidifying my choices in colleges for the common application. I do try to make free time by getting my work done earlier and attempting to get better at time management, however, there are some days where I forget an assignment or miss something. In my opinion, it is in part due to the readjustment to the 8-period schedule, which is difficult after spending so long only worrying about 3 periods a day. I believe that as the school year progresses I will get into the habit of things and be more on track in terms of school assignments. School is also an obstacle to my second goal. In my sophomore year of high school, I would usually skip breakfast and sometimes even skip lunch if I did not like the food as I am a picky eater. I fell into that routine again for the first week of this school year and I saw that I was rapidly losing weight. I decided to start to pack my own lunches to make sure that I ate and that I was full for at least most of my day. I have done this for about one and a half weeks now and I am pleased that I am eating more. While I have not seen any changes in my weight yet, I believe that it is better than losing weight and becoming more unhealthy. I hope to continue this and hopefully gain weight and get back to my pre-quarantine weight which was around 100 lbs. My last goal has the obstacle of scarce availability. It has been difficult trying to find places that would hire me or had any openings. I did recently interview for a frozen yogurt store near my school, in which I hopefully get a position at but I am still nervous as I have not received any results yet. Hopefully, I do achieve this goal soon so that I can earn money and save up for college.


How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)


In my opinion, my surroundings have given me warped perceptions of my goals. As I have mentioned, being a senior is stressful, I feel like all of my peers are ahead of me and that I am falling behind in terms of completing the common application and knowing what schools I want to attend. However, I also realize that there are a lot of other students that are also in my position who also don’t have a solid list of schools that they want. In my opinion, the college application process is a very daunting task but it is important to not feel alone and to remember that it isn’t a race since everyone has their own pace of completing the process. Moving onto my second goal, to be completely truthful, sometimes I feel guilty for having this goal mainly because of social media and societal standards where the ideal body is a skinny one. It is also reinforced by different clothing brands that run small or the influencers who permeate the idea that being skinny means you are more attractive. Obviously, since we are in the 21st century there are more body-positive clothing brands and influencers but the standards are still there. Going back to my goal, while I occasionally feel guilty, I do recognize that I will continue to lose weight and become severely underweight if I stay with my current lifestyle. I need to change my habits not only because it is for my goal, but also because it will help me take better care of myself and respect my body more. Finally, for my last goal of being hired for a part-time job, it is similar to my perception of my first goal in that I feel a sense of urgency to get it done. A lot of my peers also have afterschool jobs so I feel that I also need to get one. Although, I did have the idea of getting a part-time afterschool job during my senior year since sophomore year, but seeing all of my friends getting hired makes me feel hastier to get a job. But as the saying goes, “Good things take time” and I hope that as I am working towards each of my goals, my hard work will pay off in the end and I will be able to look back at myself at the end of the school year and be proud of what I have accomplished.