On seeking out what bring you joy
Iyana Gross
Student, Morgan State University
June 24, 2022
THERE IS THE notion that you should always be doing something to build your resume to help you apply to college. You should be doing this internship or that job. But when you’re always working toward building something, it doesn’t allow you to sit and enjoy what you’ve done, to celebrate and recognize it.
When working across differences, it’s important to enter the setting with the idea that ‘I’m coming here to learn from someone else.’”
Personally, I don’t believe in the idea of doing something to build your resume. I believe in doing things I enjoy and that align with where I want to go in the future. Simply applying to something because someone told you to do it isn’t helpful. There’s so much going on in the world—politics, the environment with climate change, our family lives—sometimes a break is needed.
We need to recognize when we need a break. Far too often children or young adults don’t say no because our ‘no’ is taken as laziness. But in reality, it’s us recognizing when we’ve had enough and we need to re-energize ourselves so we can then focus on what we need to do in the future.
SHARE IYANA’S PERSPECTIVE!
I think it’s important for leaders to listen to us. Yes, there are things they know that we need them to share with us. But then there are things that we know that we are able to teach them. There should be a sharing of information between us and our elders.
When working across differences, it’s important to enter the setting with the idea that ‘I’m coming here to learn from someone else.’ If someone happens to learn from me, that’s great. But I think that if everyone entered with the idea that they’re here to learn, rather than be the teacher, then it means we’re truly opening our minds and what we’re willing to share.
