Skipping the mundane cycle of name games and icebreakers, I, along with my fellow ISM companions, dove right into the class that represented a multitude of possibilities. We all had a unicorn in sight; that is, like the fantastical creature with a single horn, what seemingly impossible yet extraordinary feat would we accomplish this year? Only time would tell.
The prospect of finding my unicorn midst the pressures of advanced courses, standardized testing, and extracurriculars seemed daunting in of itself. However, with hopeful beginnings and a persistent spirit, I hope to overcome such struggles to make the best experience I can out of ISM. Truly getting into the gears of introspection and answering deep psychological questions that Aristotle may as well not have been able to accurately answer, my first introduction to ISM posed me with the question, why are you here? Simplistic in nature, but challenging at heart, I struggled to answer this question. Sure, I was here to find my passion, but what was the real reason that I sat in a classroom dedicated to solely researching for my future? And that’s when I realized that my inquisitive nature could just simply not wait. My tendency to plan tediously for the future is what compelled me to embark upon this journey. And of course, by finding my future career aspiration, I could then accordingly plan where I would live, how many kids I would have, and what color my car would be (kidding!). But in all seriousness, I also hope to learn from ISM that no matter how much I plan, there will come a time when all of it will change due to one small circumstance, and I look forward to growing in that aspect. Further kindling this process of self-reflection, our guest speaker, Ms. Julie Martin Leslie, gave us some meaningful advice about the new journey that we are about to embark upon. As she recounted her past and some of the difficulties that she has encountered, it suddenly became quite clear to me that, as cheesy as it sounds, life is not about having the most perfect, error-free experience possible, but rather, it is about trying new things and making mistakes, all of which leads us closer to, as she would say, being in our element. As a result, in order to push me forward and further inspire me, I chose a quote fitting to what I had learned that day- “Do one thing everyday that scares you” (Roosevelt). It is my utmost hope that through all the successes and hardships that I face in ISM, I continue to step out of my comfort zone to explore new ideas and thus gain a truly invaluable experience as I strive to find my very own unicorn.
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