Third Reflection

         Tick tock tick tock. My thought process has ceased. I’ve lost my concentration, and I’ve hit a brick wall. My fingers promptly press the keys but only gibberish is displayed on the computer screen. I delete what I just wrote, and the process repeats.

         Writing essays in a short amount of time has never been my forte.  I would spend countless hours staring at prompts and rewriting sentences. I struggled to write rough drafts because I found it impossible to write a sentence without perfecting the previous. After being frustrated with my inability to fluently spew the ideas and words in my head to the word document, I would surf the web and hope something would come to me in the next few hours.

          However, has changed my approach to writing rough drafts. On the third quarter of class, Eileen shared a very interesting article called Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott. In this article, Lamott advises readers to pour all ideas out and not worry about how absurd the ideas may sound. Ultimately, she emphasizes that writing rough drafts is simply a matter of sitting down and plunging in.

         From this article, I have learned that writing is a delicate process. It takes many tries to perfect a sentence, a paragraph, a paper. Without first scribbling all ideas and thoughts onto a word document, it is hard to move forward and move away from the very first sentence.

New Year, New Me

          New Year has always seemed to me a beginning of a new cycle, or a new path of self-development, but I never write detailed resolutions, having only abstractive understanding of my plans for future. But this year will end with a following resolution.
          First of all, I would like to become more assertive and self-confident. I need thus some more courage in my daily affairs. In addition, I need some courage to esteem my faults and failures and put them on the path of improvement: it seems like I'm becoming dependant upon the opinions of my surrounding (friends, relatives and classmates), so I would like to manage some situations on my own, without relying upon the others' advice or imposition. I want to become more independent in my attitudes and viewpoints and to get the ability to separate my judgments from those of others.
          Then, I would like to become more honest with myself. Sometimes I seem too benevolent and justify inappropriate behaviors of my friends, yet there couldn't be any justification. I also use this technique to justify my own mistakes, yet I should simply accept myself as a human being who has an inclination to making mistakes, because this is the most trustworthy way of gaining experience and knowledge.
          Thirdly, I would like to slow down my life, because it seems too busy, so I have almost no time for self-reflection, introspection and communication with my family. Sometimes it seems like my nearest and dearest people receive too little attention and care from me, so this gap will be filled and I will spend more time with my parents.
          To sum up, I would like to say that I will not keep waiting for New Year and will realize my plan in the nearest future... It is not necessary to wait for new cycle in order to change your life, because some alterations can and must be done immediately.