Su Yee Htun, Period 7, 4/25/22

 Goal Setting & Growth

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

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

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

At the beginning of the school year, I had set goals for myself, most of which I have accomplished. For example, I have already submitted my common app and I have even decided where I would like to go for college (Stony Brook). I also have a part-time job now, and I have gotten very efficient at my work. Recently, I had to get rid of all four of my wisdom teeth which forced me to have a better diet since most of what I “ate” was soft, nutritional food. While I am still working on gaining weight, my diet has gotten better and I am learning to appreciate being able to chew food. 

As for right now, I have new bigger goals that I have to accomplish. I have decided where I want to attend college but there are a lot of registration requirements that I have to do. For example, I have to fill out a lot of forms and send in different documents to be able to attend. Another goal is to get 3s or higher on my AP exams that are coming up in the next few weeks. My last goal is to enjoy the remaining few weeks of my high school life and cherish the time I have with my friends and loved ones.

For the first goal, I have a google sheet set up to help me keep track of all the deadlines and information that I need to help me submit my documents or accounts that I need to register for. It also helps that I am in a group chat with other Stony Brook incoming freshmen where we all share information to help each other with our admission. It also gives me a way to get to know people and make new friends. For my second goal, I am planning on studying for my APs once I get caught up on work for my classes. It is very important for me to do well on these APs since Stony Brook gives credit for the AP courses I am taking as long as I get a 3 or higher so I want to make sure that I do well. In addition, there are a lot of resources to help me that my teachers have given and we are also starting in class reviews which I hope will help me refresh my memory on important topics in each unit. While my last goal isn’t something I can measure progress with, I can reach fulfillment by being present when I am with my friends and focusing on the moment. I think that I did have a lot of difficulty with this earlier in the school year because I was very worried about colleges but now that everything has worked out and I am in a college, I believe that I should take my time and enjoy the two months of school.

For my first goal, I am very proud of myself for being very organized and staying on top of things since I am usually a procrastinator and throughout the whole college application process I was very late to a lot of things and didn’t have the motivation to do a lot of the minor things that I had to submit. In addition, I think that at that time, I didn’t want to accept that things had to change and that I was going to move away from what I have grown to know for the last 4 years and I know that I am very anxious about change. While I still am, I feel like being able to learn in a place that I am excited to be at will be a really amazing experience as I look forward to learning the things that I actually want to learn. At this point in time, a lot of people around me are hesitating to commit and don’t want to take the step to commit and I feel like that was me a week before I committed. I felt that it was a big step for my future and that idea haunted me for a long time because I didn’t want to make a choice that would make me unhappy later. However, now I feel very free because I made my decision and all of the hard comparing and decision making has been left in the past and is off my shoulders. As AP season comes up, I feel like as a senior it wasn’t as prominent as it was when I was a sophomore or a junior. It is most likely because I have never taken an AP while attending school in-person at the same time due to quarantine during my sophomore and junior years and it feels vastly different as I don’t have as much time to prepare for it since my school work is still piling on. Right now I feel like this is my biggest stressor as I do want to do well and start studying but it is difficult finding time when I have after school activities and work as well. For my last goal, I think there is more pressure on me now to spend more time with my friends as I realize that the end is near and seeing everyone hang out with their friends on social media. While I don’t want to regret the times I skipped out on hanging with my friends due to my school work or my actual work, I did develop a FOMO and I am still trying to get past it. I have decided that when I do have the chance to hang out with my friends, I want to make the most of it and not worry about other aspects of my life while I am with them.