We were supposed to work together as 4 girls towards a common goal, but one of the girls, today, decided to quit – because she was working two jobs, had too much from school to handle, and had to worry about other things such as paying for her living space.
This was similar to a choice I tried making with my boyfriend at the time, during middle school, when we were choosing our classes together. I wanted to do the full IB diploma, and he only wanted to do some of its classes. I remember he said something like “There’s no way that I could do all of it, so I’ll just pick the things that I know I’m good at.” and decided to go for the certificates instead of the entire diploma. I chose the diploma, and struggled, while he took the certificates and made the a-b honor roll.
I was reading a magazine today about a girl who had just introduced her own line of fragrances; the hilited quote from her interview was “I focus on what I can do, not what I cannot.” which has clearly led her to success. I accept what I can do, know that I achieved it, and move on – to focus on what I cannot, so that I can improve until one day be able to do whatever I set out to do.
The thing with this situation is – I debated whether or not I should call this girl to convince her to continue in pursuing this common goal, but then I realized – maybe she was smart in letting go of something she couldn’t handle, even if I personally hate quitting things, and am too stubborn to let go of what I can’t do.. and maybe that’s just my own personal flaw, and that if this girl wants to focus on what she needs to do, then I shouldn’t be in the way.
But at the same time – if I had the chance to go back and choose between the IB Diploma and the individual certificates, or concentrate on what I could do instead of what I could not – such as pursuing my career as a swimmer (I was really fast when I was younger) instead of gearing towards new sports that I had never played before (field hockey and lacrosse) – I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I love new challenges, because they’re just new opportunities to show myself what I’m capable of, and that I can do more than I think I can. I would have rather struggled in enduring through the pursuit of an extensive goal, than achieve a smaller one. I would have rather learned new sports, and how to play them than stick to swimming.
It may be my own flaw in being too stubborn to quit something I’ve started, or something that I’m not good at – but I’m not afraid of jumping head first into something I don’t know.. and I think that’s a little more valuable and more exciting than sticking to something you’re familiar with for the rest of your life.
