Mind Over Matter
Now I may be wrong, but I'm going to make the assumption you, like many others, have
thought at one point life can suck. You see, I know that isn’t the most traditional way a person
can start a college essay, but hey, I needed your attention, and I’m hoping I got it so you could
hear my explanation as to why. At the beginning of Junior year, I won’t lie; I walked in fully
aware it was necessary to do better, yet I still lacked the motivation to change.
In the years prior, I fell into a mentally deep ditch, one of which I didn’t know how to get out of
as it seemed to get deeper every year. It got to a point where I learned to just live inside it. The
constant failure to pull myself out caused me to try and find comfort in the mindset of “it is what
it is.” It numbed me to any ambitions or aspirations I may have had as a child entering a new
chapter/experience of their life. Now, just because it persisted didn’t necessarily mean I wanted it
to, but as I mentioned, I didn’t know where to start the change or find the motivation within
myself to accomplish these goals. I’d constantly overthink and overcomplicate things for myself,
which was the root of all these thoughts. That was until someone finally called me out on it,
eventually leading me to find my way out of that ditch.
I still remember when the realization of its simplicity hit me. It was a classmate in world history
who brought it up. We were supposed to be working on an assignment together. I looked over his
paper and then back to mine. I had way too much written down. Once again, I was
overcomplicating things for myself, trying to find the best possible response to what was being
asked of me. When we switched papers, I noticed that he had less written down but the same
Now I may be wrong, but I'm going to make the assumption you, like many others, have
thought at one point life can suck. You see, I know that isn’t the most traditional way a person
can start a college essay, but hey, I needed your attention, and I’m hoping I got it so you could
hear my explanation as to why. At the beginning of Junior year, I won’t lie; I walked in fully
aware it was necessary to do better, yet I still lacked the motivation to change.
In the years prior, I fell into a mentally deep ditch, one of which I didn’t know how to get out of
as it seemed to get deeper every year. It got to a point where I learned to just live inside it. The
constant failure to pull myself out caused me to try and find comfort in the mindset of “it is what
it is.” It numbed me to any ambitions or aspirations I may have had as a child entering a new
chapter/experience of their life. Now, just because it persisted didn’t necessarily mean I wanted it
to, but as I mentioned, I didn’t know where to start the change or find the motivation within
myself to accomplish these goals. I’d constantly overthink and overcomplicate things for myself,
which was the root of all these thoughts. That was until someone finally called me out on it,
eventually leading me to find my way out of that ditch.
I still remember when the realization of its simplicity hit me. It was a classmate in world history
who brought it up. We were supposed to be working on an assignment together. I looked over his
paper and then back to mine. I had way too much written down. Once again, I was
overcomplicating things for myself, trying to find the best possible response to what was being
asked of me. When we switched papers, I noticed that he had less written down but the same
