Throughout my walkabout experience I have learned a lot about myself. One; that when I tell myself I am going to do something, I should listen to my instinct and do it. And two; I shouldn’t let myself settle for less just because I slacked off the whole year. I needed to push myself harder to strive for the grade I knew I could achieve.
There were a lot of different categories I had to work with, but my favorite, and most time consuming was creativity. Learning about my mom’s generation of cooking really intrigued me. I wanted to grow up, and carry her creative cooking qualities with me, and pass them on to my generation of kids. Cooking is not just recipes I have learned through my experience, it is an art. Putting your whole day towards one dish, just so it can be eaten and highly enjoyed by people you love, is what makes all of the hard work worthwhile. Having a cook book of recipes that my mom has passed down to me is something that I will cherish, and keep close to my heart, forever.
The category, that for me seemed the hardest to achieve, was my service. I am a strongly introverted person, therefore trying to volunteer for a company or an adult, seemed like it wasn’t the type of person I was. The school year was coming quickly to a close, I had to make up my mind, and fast. Talking to one of my best friends, Lily Cox she took me under her wing and let me help her with donating clothes to children in need, and face painting children and families at relay for life. These options seemed to be more within my comfort zone, and I gladly accepted her offer. Donating the close was an easy way for me to clean my room, and a generous way to help needy families; therefore making me fell less stressed with a newly cleaned room, and having a new feeling of importance to myself. Recently finding out that my grandpa had been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, really gave me personal meaning to volunteer for Relay for Life. Knowing that I was making a difference in raising money for the cancer foundation, made me feel like I was doing not only my grandpa, but other victims proud as well. Seeing the smiles on little boys and girls faces made donating a weekend of my free time, all worthwhile.
Inquiry was breeze for me. Being very interested in massage therapy, I found myself having a lot of fun researching the top five different types. I plan on going to college with the intent of getting my degree in massage therapy, so I saw my inquiry study as very much necessary. Learning a little bit about what I will be getting into at college, made me feel a lot more comfortable and confident whenever my time comes to earn my degree. Feeling more prepared to start college, I am glad I picked massage therapy as my inquiry study. It was very much useful. I now know that I am fully confident with the career field I have picked, and it is right path for me.
My adventure was definitely an emotional and learning experience. It added a lot of stress and pressure on my shoulders. It wasn’t as much as stepping out of my comfort zone; it was more about how far I could push my physical and mental state of mind. I was asked to be a flyer by my coaches and fellow teammates. They all believed I had the ability to be the best, except for myself. I had to find my inner confidence, and believe in myself to be able to achieve flying. Sure I was afraid of heights, and falling, but my biggest fear I had to overcome and accept, was the possibility of me letting my team down if I did not perform everything flawlessly. What I learned most about my adventure, was facing my fear of letting down the school, my team, my coaches, and the judges, gave me an inner strength I never saw within myself, even if I didn’t execute my performance perfectly. I was still proud of the fact that I allowed myself to be vulnerable. And that was my biggest fear. Vulnerability.
Life skill was hard for me to decide. I wanted it to involve driving, since it is a rare privilege for teenagers to do here in Italy, but I didn’t know how to present it. My mom as my mentor decided that she would go through the process with me of getting my license.