Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
I know this will sound very cheesy but I actually find it hard to believe that I am almost done with my first quarter at UW (I know, I’m sorry. A lot of reflections have probably begun with a line similar to this). I use this as a reminder to myself that time really does fly when you are in school, and it is important to set aside time to reflect on my experiences. Bill Mester, a guest we had in one of my honors classes, pointed out how important it is to take the time to meditate and reflect on our experiences and to envision our goals. It is important for me to identify things that went well during my first quarter at UW, things that really didn’t go quite as well, and then assess what I want to direct my energy to in the future in order to make sure I have the best experience possible for myself here at UW.
One goal I had set for myself at the beginning of the quarter was to begin to explore the reasons why there is so much discrimination and hate within our society and within our country. This goal is even more pressing with the election of a president who seems to encourage a lot of this behavior. I don’t think I did a great job working to achieve this goal. I had a few opportunities to attend talks and meetings that deal with issues of discrimination and I did not go to any of them. Why? I’m sure I could come up with plenty of weak excuses (Homework, rehearsal, too tired) but at the end of the day all that matters is that I didn’t achieve the goal. I think it is definitely still a goal of mine, however and I should start putting more effort into achieving it, by making time to attend those meetings and lectures about discrimination and maybe even seeking out a class that deals with the issues I am interested in.
My other large goal was to try and experience new opportunities at UW. I felt like I addressed this goal a little bit better. While I am still involved in a lot of the same activities I have always been, such as playing in the UW Jazz band, one new activity I added was Ultimate Frisbee. A bunch of my friends encouraged me to try out for the UW team and I decided to give it a shot, even though I was really nervous. After a lot of hard work, I managed to squeak my way onto the UW A team, something that should be a really fun experience for me the rest of my time at UW. However, outside of this endeavor, I still tend to not take risks. My roommate offered to go to a sober morning rave, where a bunch of people party without drugs/alcohol at 7am before they go to work/school. It could have been a really cool experience but ultimately I didn’t end up going, and I didn’t really have a good reason not to. The rest of my first year and my time at UW I want to continue to work on taking chances and trying out these new things. Doing so helped me find a really fun sport in Ultimate Frisbee that I am super stoked to play while I am at UW, and who knows where the next surprise or new opportunity might lead me in my life.
Something that surprised me about the UW Honors and UW in general was how small a lot of the classes are and feel and how much opportunity for interaction with your classmates there is. I knew UW was a large school, and so I came prepared to sit in giant lecture halls and listen to my professors speak and then go do the work I need to do on my own. This has not been the case. First off, two of my Honors classes are very small, with 15 students in one and 30 in the other. This small class size allows for a lot of interaction and discussion with my classmates, something that really helps me understand the material we are covering. Secondly, even in larger classes on campus, the smaller quiz sections still allow for multi-hundred student classes to feel smaller. I still get a chance to discuss and interact with my peers at least once a week if not more.
More importantly, I learned that I really do need this interaction with my peers in order to learn. During my first quarter in Honors I was constantly aided by the discussions I had with my classmates about our course material, as they would help me better understand an idea or challenge my way of thinking. I learned that the best way I learn is to constantly be learning with and around others, as they can often point out things that I would normally have missed.
Honors 100 gave another great opportunity to learn more about UW and the honors program. One thing that we explored in the very first lecture of Honors 100 was the idea of asking big questions, of daring to dream big and to be ambitious. This is something that honestly scared me at first. I’ve never been super ambitious and prefer to act in more practical terms, but that first lecture challenged me to think bigger. Sure, it’s great to be practical, to know what I can accomplish and to set realistic goals, but that lecture also showed me that it is ok to be ambitious sometimes, to think beyond practical terms, and that doing so is equally important.
Honors 100 also showed me the importance of planning out my degree at the UW. In assignment 2 I realized how hard it is to fit all the requirements needed to graduate and all of the classes I want to take in 4 years. I’m going to be interested by topics that I don’t major in and I am going to want to take classes outside of my requirements to graduate in a program. I will definitely be using MyPlan and talking to advisers in order to make sure that I can complete my requirements and do so in a way that allows me to take classes that interest me outside my major.
So where does all of this leave me? One goal I can easily identify for the rest of this year and my time at UW is to push myself to try new things. I was able to find a sport that I really enjoy in Frisbee because I tried something new. If I could even just start with going to one event every month that I normally wouldn’t, to push myself one time a month, I might be able to find some more things I enjoy doing that I wouldn’t otherwise have known about.
The rest of this year I should also look for ways that I can begin to learn more about discrimination and hate in our culture. I will definitely be on the lookout for seminars and lectures that I can attend that deal with some aspect of this very complex issue. I will also be on the lookout for Honors classes that are focused around this issue. The same goes for this goal as with the last one in that it’s not just about identifying the opportunities but also about actually attending and participating in them.
Another goal I can identify is to continue to push myself to interact with my peers. I have found that I learn the most when I have conversations with those around me, and if I can push myself both inside and outside of the classroom to continue this habit I will be able to continue to grow even more.
Finally, I should continue to explore the boundaries of what is possible for myself, to challenge myself to be more ambitious. As I mentioned earlier I tend to live in the realm of practicality when it could often benefit me to think in the realm of possibility. Even if I don’t start changing the world right now, beginning to think about what is possible for me to achieve and to start to think and question in bigger ways might help me get to a point where I am helping change the world.
One goal I had set for myself at the beginning of the quarter was to begin to explore the reasons why there is so much discrimination and hate within our society and within our country. This goal is even more pressing with the election of a president who seems to encourage a lot of this behavior. I don’t think I did a great job working to achieve this goal. I had a few opportunities to attend talks and meetings that deal with issues of discrimination and I did not go to any of them. Why? I’m sure I could come up with plenty of weak excuses (Homework, rehearsal, too tired) but at the end of the day all that matters is that I didn’t achieve the goal. I think it is definitely still a goal of mine, however and I should start putting more effort into achieving it, by making time to attend those meetings and lectures about discrimination and maybe even seeking out a class that deals with the issues I am interested in.
My other large goal was to try and experience new opportunities at UW. I felt like I addressed this goal a little bit better. While I am still involved in a lot of the same activities I have always been, such as playing in the UW Jazz band, one new activity I added was Ultimate Frisbee. A bunch of my friends encouraged me to try out for the UW team and I decided to give it a shot, even though I was really nervous. After a lot of hard work, I managed to squeak my way onto the UW A team, something that should be a really fun experience for me the rest of my time at UW. However, outside of this endeavor, I still tend to not take risks. My roommate offered to go to a sober morning rave, where a bunch of people party without drugs/alcohol at 7am before they go to work/school. It could have been a really cool experience but ultimately I didn’t end up going, and I didn’t really have a good reason not to. The rest of my first year and my time at UW I want to continue to work on taking chances and trying out these new things. Doing so helped me find a really fun sport in Ultimate Frisbee that I am super stoked to play while I am at UW, and who knows where the next surprise or new opportunity might lead me in my life.
Something that surprised me about the UW Honors and UW in general was how small a lot of the classes are and feel and how much opportunity for interaction with your classmates there is. I knew UW was a large school, and so I came prepared to sit in giant lecture halls and listen to my professors speak and then go do the work I need to do on my own. This has not been the case. First off, two of my Honors classes are very small, with 15 students in one and 30 in the other. This small class size allows for a lot of interaction and discussion with my classmates, something that really helps me understand the material we are covering. Secondly, even in larger classes on campus, the smaller quiz sections still allow for multi-hundred student classes to feel smaller. I still get a chance to discuss and interact with my peers at least once a week if not more.
More importantly, I learned that I really do need this interaction with my peers in order to learn. During my first quarter in Honors I was constantly aided by the discussions I had with my classmates about our course material, as they would help me better understand an idea or challenge my way of thinking. I learned that the best way I learn is to constantly be learning with and around others, as they can often point out things that I would normally have missed.
Honors 100 gave another great opportunity to learn more about UW and the honors program. One thing that we explored in the very first lecture of Honors 100 was the idea of asking big questions, of daring to dream big and to be ambitious. This is something that honestly scared me at first. I’ve never been super ambitious and prefer to act in more practical terms, but that first lecture challenged me to think bigger. Sure, it’s great to be practical, to know what I can accomplish and to set realistic goals, but that lecture also showed me that it is ok to be ambitious sometimes, to think beyond practical terms, and that doing so is equally important.
Honors 100 also showed me the importance of planning out my degree at the UW. In assignment 2 I realized how hard it is to fit all the requirements needed to graduate and all of the classes I want to take in 4 years. I’m going to be interested by topics that I don’t major in and I am going to want to take classes outside of my requirements to graduate in a program. I will definitely be using MyPlan and talking to advisers in order to make sure that I can complete my requirements and do so in a way that allows me to take classes that interest me outside my major.
So where does all of this leave me? One goal I can easily identify for the rest of this year and my time at UW is to push myself to try new things. I was able to find a sport that I really enjoy in Frisbee because I tried something new. If I could even just start with going to one event every month that I normally wouldn’t, to push myself one time a month, I might be able to find some more things I enjoy doing that I wouldn’t otherwise have known about.
The rest of this year I should also look for ways that I can begin to learn more about discrimination and hate in our culture. I will definitely be on the lookout for seminars and lectures that I can attend that deal with some aspect of this very complex issue. I will also be on the lookout for Honors classes that are focused around this issue. The same goes for this goal as with the last one in that it’s not just about identifying the opportunities but also about actually attending and participating in them.
Another goal I can identify is to continue to push myself to interact with my peers. I have found that I learn the most when I have conversations with those around me, and if I can push myself both inside and outside of the classroom to continue this habit I will be able to continue to grow even more.
Finally, I should continue to explore the boundaries of what is possible for myself, to challenge myself to be more ambitious. As I mentioned earlier I tend to live in the realm of practicality when it could often benefit me to think in the realm of possibility. Even if I don’t start changing the world right now, beginning to think about what is possible for me to achieve and to start to think and question in bigger ways might help me get to a point where I am helping change the world.