Things I’ve Discovered My Freshman Year Of College | Taking Risks Is the Only Way To Know What You Are Capable Of

I have never classified myself as a risk taker. I am all about living within my comfort zone. In high school, I was involved within so many organizations that were very similar and I held many leadership positions all over the place during my time. The thing I have realized though is that I always applied for things I knew I would get. Horrible, I know, that makes me sound like I have a really large ego and I promise I don’t! Honestly though, if there was a possibility that I may not get the position that I would publicly run for then I wouldn’t run for that position.

The first time I really started to jump out and strive for things that weren’t guaranteed was with college applications. With college applications nothing is really guaranteed but I could have taken the easy route and only applied to schools that I knew I would get into. Instead though, I applied to schools that I really liked but had no guarantee of getting into. In retrospect I probably could have applied to harder ones to see if I could get in but that isn’t fair to do if you have no intention on potentially attending the school. While I did end up getting into all the schools I applied to I still had doubt in my mind before opening the admissions envelope.

So college applications were a start but this past semester I have been applying for many various groups that I have absolutely no guarantee of getting into them. While I probably won;don’t apply if I couldn’t see myself being good at the job, there are so many other fabulous and qualified applicants interviewing against me making my chances that much slimmer. While the positions I have applied for are things that really really want to participate in I am realizing that it is good for me to finally put myself out there in a way that defeat is likely. I have been fortunate enough to be chosen after applying to be a SET Leader for Kappa Delta this upcoming school year which will allow me to serve as a mentor for the new members in next years pledge class. The other two bigger things I applied for are quite the toss up though and after lengthy applications and multiple interviews they are positions that would be lucky to have any of the many applicants they can choose from causing me to understand that taking these risks are the only way I will know what I am capable of.

This is probably something that I should have learned earlier on but I am excited to be finding the silver lining in the potential of defeat. I am realizing that there is nothing to fear about rejection. Instead, it is a nudge in a better direction!