If I were to sit down with my younger self, I would’ve told her to continue never giving up and not being afraid to ask for advice from close friends or relatives. Growing up not knowing what “never giving up” was was something I had to learn slowly as I got into my teenage years. It was a learning process of striving to work hard and not giving up on something you are geniunely passionate about.
Growing up I didn’t know what “never giving up” looked like because it was always my younger self comparing herself to one of my cousins who has either a college degree in a health field or has a full time job at a well known corporate company in Boston. It would be the comments from an aunt or uncle asking me if I have a career I want to pursue, or how I would approach it when I get into college, or once I graduate from college itself.
Looking back at the comments said by my relatives asking me about my future career decisions were a lot to hear, especially coming from a family made up of engineers, doctors, corporate workers and business owners. But it does make me not give up on what I look for in the near future. Even though the comments followed me throughout my life, it made me a more confident person when it came to working hard and not giving up on the goals I want to achieve.
Therefore, the comments of “Look, your cousin is going to become a doctor” or “Your cousin recently got a job promotion at a company” were a constant reminder that working hard and achieving my goals I’ve set is what I want to have for myself. The comments about a relative having a doctorate role or getting a job promotion at a company didn’t stop me from achieving my own goals growing up.
I really hope my future self recognizes the hard work I have achieved throughout my career, because it’s important for me to acknowledge that. So to my younger and future self, I hope you realize that you are doing amazing things and accomplishing so much in life. I genuinely hope that you continue to make yourself proud and know that your younger self would be absolutely amazed at what you are doing in terms of doing your best at what you do every day.
Finally, I really hope my future self sees how much I have accomplished so far throughout my career and knows that I was able to never give up, even when it was challenging for me to do. I know that I did it with confidence and perseverance through it all, and recognize the ability for me to try my best, and acknowledge my hard work that I’ve done every single day– To show myself that I did it with confidence.