During interviews, I often ask industry professionals, If I could travel back in time and speak with them at 18 years old, and tell them about all the wonderful things they would become, what would they least likely believe to be true?
If I had to answer this question, I would talk about when I lost my mom at the age of seven. I learned a lot from my mother as she was a fourth-grade teacher. Afterward I went from the high math class to the low class and the high to low reading class. This shift occurred because a lot happened between my Mother's passing and my Father's remarrying. There were also a lot of fears and doubts spoken to me, with statements like "you won't graduate high school—and how dare you even consider going to college because you will fail and never finish." My Freshman year was terrible, and I was "subject to dismissal." However, in the first quarter of my second year, I raised my GPA from 1.8 to 3.1.
Many people don’t realize that throughout school, I believed I had a learning disability. Before graduating from undergrad, I was tested by a school psychologist and found out I had test anxiety. Later I was informed that since I was exempt from certain math classes, I could forget about enrolling in graduate school, which stuck with me for the next twelve years. In 2012, I gained enough courage to apply to a graduate program—one that did not require a GRE score, with admission based on grades. After discovering this university, I used my 2.4 cumulative GPA, was accepted, and placed on academic probation for the next four months, maintained all As, finishing my program with a 3.88 GPA.
A few years later, I applied for a second Masters degree and finished with a 3.45.
I share all this to say: NEVER tell someone what they won’t be able to do because you will be proven wrong. Just think if I had believed those foul words spoken over me and never gained the courage to earn two Master's degrees?
What would you least likely believe to be true about yourself?
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