Kalliopi Lambrinoudis, Period 6, 12/5/22

 Modern Mythology 2022

Kalliopi Lambrinoudis PD 6 12/5/22

(Goal Setting & Growth)

    At this point in my life, I have many goals set for myself. Especially considering I am

approaching 18 and will be attending college soon, I believe that it’s important to work on myself

and my shortcomings. One particular goal of mine that holds great significance to me is to get

out of my shell and to allow myself to take risks and be uncomfortable.

    For almost my entire life, I have always been extremely timid and afraid to speak my

mind in fear of starting conflict or facing judgment from my peers. I have strived to have a

“perfect” image in the minds of other people. As one can imagine, this reluctance has held me

back greatly and has prevented me from allowing myself to make meaningful mistakes and

relationships with others that would help me grow. I refused to be assertive in disagreements

and discussions because I was afraid of having people’s perceptions of me being anything other

than what I hoped. Of course, this is unrealistic. This desire did not serve me and only hindered

my growth as a person. Because I did not want to stand out in a “bad way”, I eventually decided

not to stand out at all. I went out of my way to appear bland and agreeable and nothing more. I

struggled a lot to make meaningful connections with people, but didn’t mind because I figured it

was better than feeling uncomfortable and possibly leaving a bad impression.

    This was how I lived my life until recently. Despite worrying about how others view me, I

actually really enjoy talking to people when I can occasionally let those worries aside. Human

beings are social creatures, and depriving myself of enjoying such a valuable aspect of life

because of fear was not doing me any good, and I was starting to see the consequences. I

wanted to change this about myself and took the initiative a few months ago. Last year, I signed

up for theater class. My love for theater aside, I wanted to take this class because I felt like it

would be good for me. Embarrassing yourself a little in a class that requires you to exaggerate

and act silly at times is inevitable, and practically required to pass the course. I know those

“embarrassing” moments and being in new situations will feel bad at first, but help me in the

future. Although I still get quite nervous when it is my turn to act out a scene, I feel like this class

has also helped me significantly. My main concern when I first began was not acting well,

saying something wrong, or forgetting my lines. I worried that doing those things would

somehow make people view me negatively. But as time went on, I realized that people don’t

judge you for these things — at least not harshly. Even when I made those mistakes, people’s

view of me didn’t really change, in fact, I’d be surprised if people even cared at all. Those

moments I was so worked up about ended up being nothing more than a quick 30 seconds

people went home and forgot about the next day. I also realized that I didn’t judge anyone

either, and was nothing but sympathetic towards my peers when they messed up. This

experience can absolutely be applied to everyday life; I strongly encourage anyone who reads

this who may be struggling with the same thing to learn what I have learned and to start pushing

yourself to do things that may seem scary at first. Even if things truly go as bad as you

anticipated, you can feel accomplished for trying, and try again another time anyway.