Somehow in my mind, this caused me to push it further. Do whatever it took not to be like him. I slacked off, started hanging out with people I had no interest then, or now, to hang out with, just because it wasn't what Tyler would do. I'll spare you the details but I ended that year with a 3.14 GPA and a unmentionable amounts of tardies, not bad for most people but compared to my brother's 4.0 and perfect attendance, it wasn't good.
So that's my worse. Here comes my "best."
At the end of my sophomore year, I came to my senses and realized that being compared to a great person isn't necessarily a bad thing so I straightened up. After years of fighting it, I realized, not to be self-centered, that I had to be a pretty good person to be compared to him or else why would they bother? After I realized that I wanted to go to college and study what I love, I hit the books. I worked hard to get the grades I wanted and to participate in everything I wanted to. I challenged myself to better myself through working and volunteerism. I turned my worse into motivation to be my best. Iowa State was my goal and I did everything I could to prepare myself for it.
I learned to be a better leader by working hard on the newspaper. I learned how to be self-modivating and organized by running my freelance photography business. I pushed myself out of my shyness by joining new clubs both in and out of school. I did it all to work towards my goal and to be my best but also to be no where near my worse.
Hi! This is inspirational. I kinda wrote my Hixson essay about this subject oddly enough. I am very glad that you got out of a slump or else I would have never met you!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was going to be the first to comment on this being it happened like half an hour ago, but Kali ruined my dreams..
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that's so crazy! Like I don't even know what to say..I'm glad you came to your senses and got yourself together so you could hang out with us! :D
Surprising enough this sounds oddly familiar to a chapter of my life. Well being the eldest brother of many siblings, I kind of had this happen to me, but from the other side. My sister started high school 3 years ago now, and she went into with a bad attitude, because all the upperclassmen and teachers started off knowing her as "Anthony's younger sister." She absolutely loathed that, and in turn didn't like me a whole lot. It wasn't until midway through last year, and after many discussions, that she stopped seeing it as an hindrance. She has since started focusing more on school and paving the way for what makes the two of us different. Now, she also wants to come to ISU to be in the graphic design program.
ReplyDeleteMegan, this was an awesome post! Do you still do photography? I would love to see it sometime, I am really interested in photography, just need one of those nice cameras!
ReplyDeleteMy teachers always said things about me being "Tevor's sister," but mine was the other way around because my brother wasn't the best at school and I did pretty well so my teachers didn't understand how that happened. But I'm glad that you focused on your school work and came here!
ReplyDeleteThis was an amazing post!! Like Anthony said, I am the person that everyone in high school compares my little brother to me now and he hates it. He said one day that he has finally got use to it and is going to try and do as good as me.
ReplyDeletethis one kind of hit home for me as well. my brother tells me that now that im out of high school, a lot of the students and teachers try to compare him to me. i just hope he reaches the point that you did, and turns it into motivation.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you realized how to motivate yourself to do well in school instead of what your brother would do. It is hard to get out of that mind set so it is amazing that you motivated yourself to turn your school work around.
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