Ongoing Convo: Personal Interests
8th Grade students chime in on their thoughts…
Consider the quote, “Why is it that the words we write for ourselves are always so much better than the words we write for others?”
Among other things, this can mean that the work or hobbies we create for ourselves, just because we are interested in something, is generally better than anything that is forced on us by other people.
Explain how this is like your life. What endeavors have you found personally interesting?
In relation, do you believe that life works out, or do you believe that life never works out according to plans?
Tia P.
November, 2019
I would agree with the argument that life does not go as planned. However, life also has something waiting around that corner for you. You can take that something and run with it, or let it scare you and leave you upset in the end.
For example, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer last January. The doctors expected her to have a couple more years. But little did we know that she would die in less than a year. It was a turn that my family never saw coming. We had not planned for that to happen, at least not for a while.
In my life, I have tried many sports. I would not have tried half of these sports if my parents hadn’t wanted me too. Starting at a very young age, I tried dance, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, ice skating, and even soccer. But the one that stuck with me ever since I was two years old was dance.
I stuck with that sport because it made me happy and shaped me into the person I am today.
Now, if my parents did not want me to stick with dance but for some reason wanted me to be the next Michael Phelps, I would not have been as happy. That is because they forced that decision upon me even though I was not interested.
Juliana M.
November, 2019
No matter how hard you try there is still gonna be some obstacles that get in the way which is relating to how life never works out. If you try to plan everything and you still think life turned out well there are still some things that never work out. Even with a good life it still doesn’t work out according to plan.
This connects to my life since my aunt and uncle have been trying for a long time to have a baby which has resulted in miscarriage. Finally, they are having a kid and everyone is obviously extremely happy and thankful. Things didn’t work out the way they wanted in the beginning, but it did eventually work out. This won’t happen for everybody in that circumstance, but instead other avenues of life might open up.
Living my life there are many things that I want to try but there are also many things my mom forces me to do— for example, sports that don’t interest me or that do but aren’t as fun when I’m forced to do them.
When I was a kid I was forced into Taekwondo and Karate, which both became less interesting, andI quit after a year. On the flip side, when I wanted to do violin it was much more fun since I did it for myself. I continued playing for three years.
Lea K.
November, 2018
When I am making a craft for someone, I normally put most of my effort, however, when I am making something for my room or something for myself, I tend to take too much time and put in a lot more effort.
This is sometimes the case with other things too. What we tend to like better in our hobbies is those we choose— better than what other people or society picks for you. You know yourself better than others.
An example of this is I first really liked volleyball when I was little. All my friends would go to summer camps and have nets in their backyard. I started getting really interested in it but then i kind of got bored of it. I realized dance is what I really wanted to do. I wasn’t forced to do it and it was fun for me.
One thing I have found is that, doing things for myself makes me want to work harder. I think it is something natural in what humans do. Everyone can be selfish and this is something that we unknowingly do. We know our bodies and how satisfied we feel with something, so we want to impress ourselves a little bit more to satisfy our brain compared to doing something for another person.
No matter what, there are going to be many obstacles in life where we succeed or fail. I need to remind myself of this; no one is perfect.
Bhavyaa C.
November, 2018
Life is a roller coaster and to enjoy every moment of it even if you are going straight downhill.
It can never be possible that someone’s life can be perfect and crystal clear. It is in human nature to make mistakes in life and that is how we learn from it. We drive our own roller coasters sometimes, and we must understand that not everything can be perfect. Because it never is. There will always be another mountain to go down, sometimes slowly, and sometimes quickly. What would be the point of a roller coaster if it never went down? Life is just like that. Full of twists, turns, loops, surprises, ups and downs. Thus, the statement, “life never works out” could be a valid point.
One day, I had come home after receiving two different academic awards and I was very proud of myself, I had happily come home. However, upon reaching my house, I realized that the atmosphere was down. I asked what happened, and there was fighting and arguing prior to me coming home. I didn’t think much of it and said, “Oh well, too bad for them”. But then later that day I found out I got a bad grade on a test I took earlier that day, I also found out I didn't make it into the orchestra I tried out for. At that point I was devastated and completely upset. However, the next day I aced my math test. So my feelings were very mixed. I had no idea whether to feel happy or unhappy.
I realized that I can’t let one or two things bring me down, and all I needed to do, as cliché as this sounds, was get back on my feet.
Once, my parents forced me to take swimming classes. I already knew how to swim and even dive, and had no interest in going to a swim class. To me, it was a waste of time and I loathed it. After those classes ended, I had no benefit from them. In fact, the reason why my parents made me join was because other kids’ parents had them in swimming classes. I learned a few things from it, but i never retained any of that information.
A few months later, I told my parents I really really wanted to learn how to play the ukulele. They agreed, and enrolled me in Ukulele lessons. I enjoyed the classes, and I retained all of the information from the classes. I decided to quit after my first two months of learning by myself.
To this day, I play my ukulele everyday and practice various different songs. I enjoy that. If I kept on doing swimming lessons, life would’ve been a living torture for me.
I like to do what I want in life, as anyone would. If you look back on history you can see that most of our wars were based upon a certain group of people not having freedom to do what they wanted. All humans are selfish and vain at some point in our lives, and that is completely okay. Because one should be independent to themselves and do what they enjoy.
A life is irreplaceable, so you might as well live it the way you want to.
Anna Y.
May, 2018
Our lives may not go as we planned and every day we are faced with new struggles that we may not have planned for. I personally believe things do end up “working out” in the end, just maybe not the way that you thought.
When I didn’t get a good grade on a test and it wasn’t the outcome that I was looking for, I can still learn from my mistakes and make something good out of a bad situation.
I always like doing things on my own terms. Even if somebody tells me to do something that I like doing, it won’t be as good as if I wanted to do it myself.
In a personal life example, I love to clean. Sometimes on the weekend when I have some free time I go and clean things to make them neat, but whenever my mom tells me to clean something, I feel confined to only doing that thing and I end up doing a worse job cleaning because I am thinking about all of the other things I could be doing instead.
Sofia R.
May, 2018
For as long as I can remember, I have taken piano lessons. I enjoy playing but, for the majority of my time taking lessons, I was not interested in practicing or putting in the work to improve. No matter how much my parents or teacher encouraged me to take initiative and practice more, it was never a large priority for me. I was simply not interested in practicing. However, when I recently began to take an interest in striving to get better, I started to improve drastically.
I believe that life can work in the way we wish on occasion, but I also believe that life does not always turn out how we wish it would. For example, a few days ago, I performed in a play. I had been working to accomplish certain things to ensure that I could execute them well on the day of the play. While some things turned out the way I had hoped, others did not.
As I learned, some things you do not foresee and are out of your control.
I did well in terms of my lines and did not forget a single one, which supports the notion that life can work in your favor. However, there were also technical difficulties, in addition to some instances where I made minor errors. Even though I would have liked for the performance to have been completed without a single error, that did not happen.
It seems that the only motivation that works in these instances was my own desire to do something for myself, since it interested me. It was not enough for me to practice for the sake of someone else because I did not have the interest. However, if I had the interest, I would see much better results.
Olivia S.
April, 2017
In my life, I have been forced to do things I didn’t want to do and failed at it and then when I got to choose what I wanted to do then I succeeded at it.
For example, when I was younger my mom forced me to do dance and I would dread every time I had to go. I went about three times a week and finally I was forced to go to a competition. At the competition I was dancing with my group and I forgot the dance. I had no confidence when I was dancing and I think that was the major reason I failed.
A couple months after that experience my mom let me quit dance and do something I had always wanted to do and that was soccer. I have been playing soccer for about 8 years and have loved it ever since I quit dance.
This story shows that when you are able to choose what hobbies you do you are most likely going to succeed at it because it is something you enjoy not something you are forced into.
Insiya R.
April, 2017
I feel like I have a lot to live up to in life. That forces me into things I actually may not want to do but feel like I have to do in order to stand out.
A lot of the time I ask myself, why I am going through the pain and hard work for gymnastics. Yet I’ve come so far, and it’s not like I’m bad, so just keep going.
My older cousins are almost the most perfect humans I’ve ever met so it’s a lot to live up to. It’s frustrating. And it also does not help that everybody loves my parents and they really make everything work,— they are super successful and happy and it’s like, “What am I supposed to do now?”
All of this considering, I am the only person in my family that does gymnastics, and I am also really good at my religious school, which are a few things my cousins have actually not achieved.
I do feel loved, though, and special when I am complimented. It’s just the best feeling in the world for people to be proud of me and to gain some recognition for the work I sometimes feel forced to excel at.
Even with my circumstances, I am extremely grateful for what I have learned even if I do feel forced to keep going at times. I have to remind myself how fortunate I am and that this push is not always a bad thing.