As I begin my second semester of freshman year, I have gone to all of my new classes and listened to my professors explain what will be going on throughout the rest of the class' duration. Being informed about all of the assignments, papers, exams, out of class work, and presentations I will have to complete in just over three months is very stressful and overwhelming.
These few introductory days have felt so long, as I have just been sitting and listening, not taking notes or doing assignments that make the time go by.
I got very lucky this semester with five outstanding professors. As they introduced themselves on the first day of class, I got to learn a little bit about each of them.
I was not expecting to learn such a valuable lesson from my creative writing professor on the first day of class. I assumed I would learn about the class as a whole like I had in the rest of my classes.
He comes off as quite out there, by cussing in every sentence he says. But, he led me to a huge realization that I wish I had known sooner in life.
He was explaining how the grading system works for the class. Basically, he shared that our papers will not be graded based off of if they are "good" or not. He said this is because his version of good is different than our teaching assistants version, and differs from every other individual's version of good.
I found this very important to keep in mind not only as a creative person but as an individual in this generation and era. I often find myself worrying about what other people may think of me in all aspects of my life, and even observe others finding themselves in this same situation of feeling self-conscious.
Specifically, I worry that the art I create will not be good enough for the people viewing it. In actuality, I should be creating something that is good enough for me, and only me.
In life, I should work on becoming a person that I am proud of and confident to show others, instead of altering my true self to satisfy the beliefs and thoughts others have about the way I should be.
What does it even mean to be good enough? Nothing. "Good" is simply just an opinion. An opinion that we take personally, and let it affect us way too much.
We need to stop worrying about how others view us and focus steadily on striving to create an image of ourselves that WE want to express to the world.
I hope that everyone can take this into consideration. I believe that if all people improve their feelings of self-worth, then we will be unstoppable!
We will be able to do anything we set our mind and soul to, be the best possible versions of ourselves, and live our lives to the absolute fullest!