Change is for Yourself

Things are changing every day in this world. We can see all the changes through the news channel. The changes in the world around us are what we tend to notice, but sometimes people do not realize that they are changing themselves.

Lots of people nowadays are saying that “we can change the world,” but most of the time, they are the object being changed by the circumstance. It is not about changing other things, but rather changing yourself.

I was not really active the first year I came to Stanstead. When I wasn’t doing homework, I'd be lying in bed and on my phone. I rarely had time to truly explore my own interests. In my old school, the teachers preferred to have students who were quiet and hard working. This made me become a person who is introverted. I kept to myself a lot. I also could not fully express myself in English at that point. I was not confident, I couldn’t even finish a short English conversation.

But at the end of my first year, I started to look back, and I realized how many things I missed. The changes I made to please others had become the cage which locked me inside. I started to question myself: are there any changes you have made that are not something aiming to make other people happy? The answer was “no.”

Then I started to change for myself. I tarting from attending more school events. I even applied to be a prefect at the end of that first year, not only to help others but also for myself, telling myself that I could make this step too.
It is obvious that I could not become a prefect with my performance in that first year, but after I realized I needed to change, I made myself step out of my comfort zone.

Since then, I became more and more outgoing, and I stopped hanging out with just Helen, that weird kid. I also realized how Stanstead encouraged us to develop our personal interests. I found a group of friends who have the same interests as me. These things made me more and more confident.

Over nearly three years of Stanstead life, I learned that it is meaningless to change yourself for other people. However, change for yourself is the right thing. We are all different. Lots of us are from different countries, having different cultures and interests. But those are not things that make you weird; they make you unique, make you become yourselves. If you want to take a step and change, don’t be afraid other people’s opinion, just go ahead and do it.

Last year, one of my friends said something to me which gave me my inspiration: “If you don’t change right now, what are you waiting for?”