Reflective Essay: Adapting To A Brave New World

Looking around today’s society, it’s clear that we as a country and as a generation are painfully uncertain. In our careers, we question whether we are chasing our true calling and whether we should have travelled another path. In relationships, we run into the paradox of craving a maintained closeness with those we know with a desire to meet others. We question our abilities, our skills. We complain about our problems and feel entitled to solutions, but in our own indecisiveness we fail to effect any true change for ourselves and for those around us.
I’m not here to argue that I have all the solutions or that I am unwaveringly confident in my opinions and values. I’m still young, and I still have much to learn. The difference between me and all the viewers of the world isn’t that I have the answers, but that I am willing to search, willing to negotiate, willing to research and experiment and fail and keep on fighting for the best possible solution.
I’ve spent much of my life in isolation, both mental and geographically. I find myself every day in a small desert community 25 miles from my school with no car, having
Instead of going to the typical high school like my peers from middle school, I choose to travel 3-4 hours every day for a dual-enrollment program that challenges my mind and abilities every day. This fall, I will be attending University of California, Santa Barbara, under the Global Studies program. I will get a job to support my college education, and I will pursue internships, minors, and study abroad at every opportunity. I am going to become a diplomat through the U.S. Foreign Service, and I will explore the world, making change, helping people, and most importantly, gaining a broader insight of what makes the world tick. The more I travel, the more I will see, and as I learn I intend on using my knowledge to solve major problems and crises and leave the largest positive impact on the world I am capable of, with the help of those I