LC Exercise #3 Part 1: The Realization of "Why Not?"

1. Sing in front of people

2. Write a book

3. All the usual fantasies like be in a movie, or a band, or model, or whatever!

4. Learn how to play guitar

5. Random, but.. Start a YUGA chapter (club)!

I chose to start my own YUGA chapter, but I haven’t exactly gotten that far with it yet, so I can’t really decide if it’s a failure or success at this point (but it looks promising!). YUGA (Youth United for Global Action and Awareness) is an organization created by Plan, a non-profit international development agency, and it’s something I had heard about a long time ago, but never thought I would actually attempt because I guess I was afraid of failure and embarrassment. I’ve always wanted to do it mainly because I always think about making change, but rarely ever actually act on it- I would finally be making a difference. I also would really like to make my grandfather, who was the director of Plan’s aid program in Hong Kong previously, proud, and I would love to work for Plan, or an organization like it, in the future. What made me decide to pick this though, was just the realization of “why not?”- if I want to do it, then I should do it, simple. Some of my other options were a lot scarier and didn’t offer me as many benefits, so this was the obvious choice.

I chose to do it co-operatively with a friend I had traveled with, Jenny Allison, who I knew would be interested. So far we have discussed plans and brainstormed ideas for events and fundraisers we could have and are currently searching for a supervisor. So, slowly we’re making progress. We have yet to have our first meeting, but it really seems like a lot of people are interested and that we can make this work! I’ve learned that it’s only the first step that’s difficult; once you get started it’s not as scary anymore.

I still don’t think I’m going to overcome my fear of singing in front of people anytime soon, but when it comes to other things it should be less nerve-racking because really, what’s the big deal? People like the idea of the club, so why was I ever so scared to try it? When I really think about it, no one would really judge me for any of the things I wrote on my list, yet in the back of my mind somehow I still am a little afraid that they would if I were to try some of them.

On a related side note, I would like to take this time to say thank you because before this exercise I was already inspired by Love Course to try something I feared, and it turned out great! I absolutely love to sing, and when I heard about the a cappella group at Sharon High School I secretly really wanted to do it, but knew that I would never actually try out because there’s nothing I fear more than singing in front of people. Then later on we watched “Yes Man” and learned in class about how we can raise our happiness levels by saying yes to opportunities and so I decided to try it- not saying yes to everything, but being more open to things. Of course, that same day, a few periods later, one of my good friends who was in a cappella last year begged me to try out- and after a lot of contemplating and worrying and more persuasion on her part, I finally signed up. I thought I was going to faint but I actually survived the try out, and actually ended up making it in- and I can say now that it has in fact made me happier.

Although, as I’ve said, we still haven’t gotten very far with the club, I’ve learned from this exercise that it’s okay to try because most of the time it’ll turn out okay- and even if it doesn’t, no one really cares.