My Life

Machiel de Groot Mrs. Carne AVID 9 March 28 2013 My Mandala DRAFT 2222222 Everybody has things that are important to them and their lives. In this essay, I will be explaining what is important to me and why they are big aspects of my life.. The things that are most important in my life are as follows: Sports, Music, Family, Education, and most of all: my best friend. In my Avid class, we were asked to make a â€Å"Mandala†, a circular piece of paper split into four slices with one space left in the middle; leaving a circle in the middle surrounded by 4 other slices.In the center of the Mandala, you were supposed to write what was most important to you; and on the outside you were to write four other, less important aspects of my life. After a prolonged period of introspection, I was surprised by what I discovered about myself and what was most important to me. Creating that Mandala and thinking about my life and who I am changed the way I thought about myself; and maybe it wil l change how you think too. The first thing I drew on the outside of my mandala was a picture of my 2 brothers and parents: my family.Family is a huge part of my life because they represent safety, security, and support in a young person’s life. Because I am close to my family at home, it means that I’ll always have a place to go to in times of need. My family is always there to support me and for that, I am extremely thankful. I always feel like I have a place to go and a home to live in and that is all because I have a loving family there for me. All of these reasons led me to draw that sketch of my family on my Mandala. The next important part of my life is my education.To represent this, I drew a pencil and books. School and academics are hugely important and they will help me later on in life. Although school is absolutely not something that I enjoy, this assignment is about importance, not feelings. Having a good education, especially in a competitive world like today’s, is key to success later in life. Going to GECA is a great example of this. An early college academy like ours can give you a competitive edge against other applicants for colleges and jobs. Having a good education means having a successful life.I am also blessed to have such a wonderful life where I can get an education and it makes sense to get the best out of what you are offered rather than leave it when so many others don’t even get the chance at it. Education, a blessing that we are very fortunate to have, is the second thing that I drew on my mandala The third thing that I drew on my Mandala was sports. Mainly soccer, for which I drew a soccer ball. I play a lot of them and I enjoy them immensely; especially soccer. I’ve played soccer for almost 11 years and it’s what I look forward to doing throughout the week.I feel a sense of achievement when I learn something new and playing the sport gives me an incentive to improve in it and excel. Th is determination can translate over into other aspects of my life as well. That motivation spills over into school and I feel more motivated to try my best. Also, because I play the sport well, it benefits my self-esteem and I feel more confident. For me, sports are a vent for emotions, a place to excel in, and a point of my life that I’m good at that helps me to feel more confident.This is where things got interesting for me: when I first received this assignment, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that music would be the most important thing to me. Music has helped me through a lot of personal issues in my life and I’ve always felt it to be my rock or something to distract me from the world around me. I am not a religious person, although I was for a very long time; therefore I don’t believe that any supernatural being is rooting for me up in the sky.That makes me feel like my issues are my own and they feel much more personal and real than if I’d t hought that there was a god helping me through it. To me, music is that place that I can go to close my eyes and drown in the music and the chords and sounds and be distracted from my problems. There were times when I felt worthless and times when life was meaningless to me (another side effect of being Atheist- you tend to think about life in a much deeper way). Music always helped me through those things and kept me going until better times came along.Because of this, I assumed that music would be the most important to me for always being my escape. However, when I completed my mandala, it didn’t sit with me. I didn’t feel like it represented me well enough. That’s when I realized what was really the most valued thing in my life. Friends. I realized how important they really are to me. I only have one very good friend and she doesn’t even go to my school or live in my city! She lives in Hollister. We met almost a year ago and we’ve gotten to know each other extremely well.It sounds cliche to say that friends are always there for you and that they love you but it really is true. A friend is somebody who you can trust with anything and they will help you out with it. My friend really knows me and we get along perfectly. We have our bad moments just like all friends do, but in the end, things smooth out again. The reason that my friend is the most important thing in the whole world to me is because she really makes me feel loved. Of course your family loves you but that’s always a given.Knowing that someone else out there loves you like a brother and having that companion through life is touching and I’m thankful beyond words for such a strong friendship at such a young stage in my life. And whenever I’m stressed or worried or upset, her voice and smiling face help me through it. That’s not something that should be put on the outside of my Mandala. These are thoughts that, until writing this essay, I hadn’t realized before. This essay made me realize how much she means to me and how much I value true friendship.The reason that my best friend is in the middle of my circle is because I love her like I would a sister and I don’t know where I would be without her in my life. These are the things that I put on my Mandala: Family, because they’re there to support me; Education, because it’s a necessary thing to have in order to lead a successful life; sports, because they give me self-esteem and help me to be more motivated; music, because it’s an escape from worry and trouble; and most of all, my best friend, for listening and talking and making me laugh and feel loved.Life is a complicated thing but sometimes, all you need is family, some sports, and one, single, wonderful friend to make you happy. I sat back and took a look at my life; and now I realize how much I treasure my friend and family; and I’ll keep that in mind now. Now why donà ¢â‚¬â„¢t you sit back and look at your life and decide what is most important to you. Maybe it will open your eyes to what is really important.