Lindsay Costa

English 250/260 MW

Desire to Succeed

 

Year after year millions upon millions of high school graduates apply for college. Whether it is out of state or at a local junior college, the ideas of freedom and adulthood slowly start to set in. However as the weeks go by after you settle into your college classes; you slowly start to realize, that you’re a not a child anymore and you can do pretty much anything you want.

When I graduated I had no clue of what to do with myself. I grew up in a very sheltered home, like myself other friends also faced the same dilemma, of a sheltered environment. The idea of freedom and adulthood can sometimes shadow the motivation that was etched in one’s brain since birth. I had only a few choices either go to work and make money, to actually get something done. Or go to college and pay for it, because I had no support financially in my family. Why would I want to work hard just for a piece of paper. And in turn can sometimes shadow the motivation to go and actually attend college.

When, I first got a job it was a completely different experience for me, like a rite of passage in any teenager’s life, I realized I was now no longer a child, and also had to carry on certain responsibilities. Like school, my job they gave me a set of rules to obey, and learn to socialize with complete strangers and you get rewarded in the end. But, if those rules are broken you would get punished. Like college, they don’t care about your personal needs. They give you the notion of a careless attitude towards you, because if you don’t want to work or learn, they can be happy to drop you or fire you. But it was easier, because after weeks of hard work you get paid for it.  Getting rewarded with money blinded me, I didn’t want to go to college and have to pay to learn and graduate all for a piece of paper.

The problem that I think happens with most teenagers is that parents do try and push their children to go to college. But many get distracted by the pleasures and fantasies of an easy life and don’t ever have their own personal motivation. Even if a teenager attends college in the end it’s a completely different experience, compared to high school. You become your own person and you don’t need your parent’s to help lead the way anymore. In all it’s an awesome feeling to behold and students end up getting distracted by their own social life and eventually lose all motivation for college. When I was growing up my mother installed that, because she never went to college she has learned that if you don’t go to college, you’ll end up regretting it for the rest of your life. This had a negative effect on me. After the years of getting lectured I hated the idea of going to college, because I was tired of meeting expectations, I already got that from work.

But many students actually take advantage of the benefits that college has to give and on a lighter note some students look to college as a new opportunity to learn. For example my friend and coworker Melissa is now in her second year of going to junior college (Carrillo). I asked her why she wanted to go to college, “I wanted to go to college, because, I didn’t want to work here in Starbucks for the rest of my life.” she laughs, “My mom got a minimal amount of college and got her A.A. and she now has a job that makes $100K a year.” She says that her motivation was the idea of not spending year after year slaving over school for a good job but getting what you need for a better job and to start from there. “Even though I’m going to a Junior College then to x-ray technician school, I’m planning on going to get a job that can pay more so I can independently stop relying on my family for help. Because my overall program takes a span of 6 years.” Its very cliché to go to college with the motivation to make more money but Melissa also went to school for the privilege of learning, merrily saying, “School’s awesome, I love being in an environment where people come here, because they want to learn.”

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, shows that negative attitudes and state of minds such as stress and even lying all are elements that contribute to not wanting to succeed in life. Goleman says people with no motivation for anything whether it is for school or life, stating, “The worrying mind spins on in an endless loop of low-grade melodrama.” Showing that even how I wanted to go to school I used excuses to get myself out of school, I lied to myself saying I would get school done eventually, but never did. But in the end I realized that I couldn’t work at some dead end job for the rest of my life. Goleman discusses in “Passion’s Slaves,” that people can usually use their negative feelings to try and better themselves subconsciously, and reach a better state of mind and try and fix their bad attitude. And that’s totally how I feel now. I still hate my job; I know that by going to school, I’m bettering myself especially since right now it’s so hard to get a job. Currently I am going to school to get my A.A. I’m really not aiming for anything specific major, because once I get my general education out of the way; I’ll know exactly what I want for sure.

What I really wanted was success in my life, after I started going to college and was able to push myself to actually go to college, my life completely changed, emotionally and physically. After I finally told myself I needed to go to school, I ended up

having a good time, it’s like high school almost there still are those annoying loud people in class.  But the teachers are there for those who want to learn. My life used to be so uneventful and boring and now I’m completely booked with my house, my car, my job, and school, and myself. But going to school really is going to help myself better my future and the only way to get things done is to push you.

 

 

 

 

 

Works cited

• Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence.

New York: Bantam Books, 2005

• Merritt, Melissa [Coworker, Starbucks Barista].

Personal interview. Hollister, CA. November 4, 2008