My PRE – Collage Experience Essay Example

In order to get to collage, I had to make many challenging decisions. At a particular time in my life, I realized that most of the things that we do come as an instinct. However, that marks the difference between these events is the outcomes that are associated. The difference is also observed from how they affect our lives in a different way compared to the possible outcome in case they could have been done differently. Eventually, the occurrence of these events and how we influence them is a matter of our mindset. The outcomes always depend on whether our reaction before carrying out an activity triggers a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
Personally, I have various experiences of fixed mindset. It was my favorite period of the year in high school, the football interschool competitions. I was part of my school team competing that year and we already cruised to the semifinals. If we won our next game we could have gone to the county finals for interschool football competitions. I was very confident that we were going to win the competition that year. We had a strong and focused team and he had only lost once in all our previous competitions for the season.
Finally, the day for the semi finals was here. Most parents had arrived to watch their kids play and cheer them to. My mother was also attending for the first time and there was nothing I could think of but making her proud that day. The game started but was not easy on us the way we had expected. During the first break, we were leading by very few points and that begun to scare me. We went in for the second round with a lot of zeal to ensure that we widen the gap against our opponents. However, it did not play out as expected either. Twenty minutes before the game ended, the opponents had already equalized the points. This was now the determining moment. However scored would have won the game because time was running out.
I gave it my best just making sure that I wasn’t the one to miss the last winning shot. Five minutes before the game ended, our team captain messed up and the opponents were given a foul. It was not surprising how they did not waste that one last chance. They scored and the only thing we heard was the final whistle blowing. I remained in the field disgusted while everybody else on our team walked away quiet. Some of the parents did not seem to be bothered by the outcome while others appeared devastated too.
All the anguish never went away. I hated Johnson, our team captain every other day. I stopped talking to him and cut off any association we had together. I was convinced that he had ruined my chance of attaining my dream in high school and setting pace for my future. However, it was unbelievable how Johnson just continued with team practice and laying at the school. I quit playing for the school team and joined basketball team at which I was worse. I have never met Johnson since we finished high school but I read on social media that he went to college on football scholarship. That is when I actually realized how loosing that one game affected me because I had fixed my mind on winning.
Alternatively, I have also done things inspired by my growth mindset. I had always thought that I would go to college on football scholarship. It was a crazy notion for my parents who thought that I could do better if I concentrated on studying. My grades in class were at the poorest but I did not really care. By the time I quit the football team out of anguish and disappointment, I did not even have a clue where to start with my academic work. My disappointment for the loss was very strong that even if I noticed that my grades were very low, I did not consider going back to the team.
Eventually, this was the most difficult part of my school life. I used to cry sometimes due to the inability to do my homework without the help of my mother. Sometimes I deliberately failed to do the homework. I was convinced that I was not meant for success and progress in class but I could not go for the pitch. One day after the high school graduating results for the previous year was out. I was shocked to learn that a juvenile convict had scored highly and gotten a scholarship in a popular collage. The individual was released from prison on the account of good conduct and positivity.
That was the moment my mind focused on passing my exams so that I could be enrolled in a good collage. I studied a lot for the first two terms but I was still failing my exams. My mother was now disappointed in me and she told me that I would regret for my lack self confidence and commitment. I started doing my homework and taking evening classes with my classmate friend who lived across the street.
Although people’s reaction and some distant voices in my mind told me to give up, I still had an inner drive that told me that I was closer to my destination. By the end of my third year in high school, my grades improved from a D- to a B. Although my parents thought that it was just a matter of luck or inconsistency, I was so happy and knew that my effort was paying. By the middle of the following year, everyone had started to notice my consistency in good performance. I kept going on and motivating myself until my parents are currently surprised that I made it to collage.
These two occurrences in my life usually give me a reflection of what i can be proud of myself and a choice that I could have made better. Using my fixed mindset, I lost a good friend who apparently followed his growth mindset and he is now living my dream. Despite the fact that he is the one who caused the last shot that made us loose, he got over it and continued doing what he believed would progress him to the level he wants. It would be much convenient in most people’s life scenarios if they considered a growth mindset when they make most of their decisions.