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OVERCOMING THE ODDS
Sometimes the odds that we face on our paths are not people’s faults.
Most of the time they are ours. Most people think that when something
negative happens to them, they always try to blame someone else for
that. One thing they never do is they never take the time to analyze
what happened to them and to find out where the negativity came from. My
odds were to adjust to Navy life in “A” school.
After I graduated from
high school and worked at a few jobs which didn’t have any benefits, I
joined the United States Navy. I graduated from boot camp and I went to
my “A” school that was in Chicago, Illinois. When I went there, my
skills in speaking English were very limited; also, I was afraid to make
mistakes. As a result of my poor studying techniques and partying too
much, I failed two tests. We had to take fourteen tests overall. Also,
we were being tested on some laboratory demonstrations that we were
getting graded. I would be expelled from the school and sent to a ship,
if I had failed another writing test or a laboratory demonstration.
I knew the only person
that was capable of fixing that negativity was me and me only, so I
talked to myself and planned some changes. The first thing I did was to
start working harder on my studies. For me, failing a course or getting
kicked out of a course was the last thing I wanted to happen to me. Why
do I say that? Because I know that I am capable of achieving what I want
in life.
I started to study harder
for myself and also for my parents. What do I mean by that? When I
signed to join the Navy, I didn’t tell my parents and they were not
too happy with my decision. To tell them I would be expelled from school
if I fail another test, that would not make me feel any better. Also, I
knew that I was old enough to know what I want in life and it really
doesn’t matter what people think. When someone goes to school in the
military, he or she doesn’t only go to school. It is their job; that
means it is serious business. I studied harder and paid more attention
in class; in February 2000 I graduated with my class.
We make a lot of
decisions in our lives. Now and then these decisions we make became some
odds that we have to overcome, so that we can go on with our lives. We
should never take anything for granted. What we need to do when such
situations happen is we need to stay calm and think about some positive
ways to deal with that situation. |
