First Year, Commerce
“When you tell people you are in Scouts, they think it’s weird. When you get older, a lot of people leave the organization because they are not interested in it anymore and they think it is not something for people of our age but it really is. In the older section, you get to know a lot more people and do more social stuff and it gets you engaged with others. It is a good stress reliever.”
Who do you love and appreciate most in your life? Family, friends, celebrities, and your personal role models probably come to mind first… but what about yourself? Do you truly love yourself for who you are, and not how you want others to see you? This has a little to do with humility, and a lot to do with what constitutes true and honest values towards personal identity.
You’ve heard it all before, about loving yourself and not letting others change your perceptions of yourself. Easier said than done. We are all capable of putting up a façade of complacency and coolness in regards to how we view ourselves, but let’s not play around. What others think of us matters, and this affects how we feel about ourselves.
Learning to love yourself takes time and effort and is probably still ongoing for us all. The process is different for everyone, although it usually involves discovering and embracing what you enjoy most. That was certainly the case for me, and it’s only been a recent occurrence in my life.
I was (and still am) a quiet individual, so I didn’t get as involved in school as I would’ve liked. My childhood was happy, but not very exciting—lots of video games, comic books, and creative expression. However, this lifestyle didn’t completely satisfy me. I saw my friends play sports and go on exciting vacations while I was stuck doing the same old stuff. What I loved to do just didn’t seem like it was enough, which made me doubt myself. Attempting to compensate through name-brand clothing and a cocky attitude didn’t help much either. I didn’t appreciate who I truly was, but who I thought that I wanted to be.
Although I don’t accept everything about myself completely, as there are always aspects of ourselves that we can improve, I do appreciate the strengths of my character. Through volunteer opportunities and roles of responsibility, I learned to exercise my creativity and my desire to make the world a little bit better. Although I enjoy quiet time, getting involved in the community taught me that I was more capable than I realized. This newfound confidence allowed me to explore more international experiences and challenge myself.
Learning to love yourself starts when you accept your weaknesses. I’m skinny, awkward, geeky, pretty weird… but I’m okay with those traits, because they define who I am right now. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to improve, but I recognize that I can embrace my quirks and still achieve success. I love myself—moderately, of course. I know that I’m unique and have important ideas and skills to offer.
That can be for you as well. If you recognize your own faults but still challenge yourself in spite of them, then you deserve to be proud of yourself. Get involved, embrace your passions, and you will be rewarded. Love others, and you will be loved… but learn to love yourself, too.
Third Year, Double Major in Art & Art History and English, Minoring in Sociology
“What would you like to see changed in the English program?”
“Less essays? [laughs] It would be cool if profs can have something in class where you can choose which book that still portrays what you’re learning to read. It’s hard to interpret a book you wouldn’t have read in any other situation.”
Third Year, Major: History of Religion and Double Minor In Classical Civilizations and Anthropology
“My past experiences have made me very wise beyond my years.”
“How did you decide you wanted to pursue a career in biology?”
“I’m not sure that I recall exactly when I had decided to do that. When I was visiting my parents, five years ago, I found a diary entry of when I was really little. […] I read in it that I felt really good when I was in nature and when I was walking around, and looking at the trees, looking at the grass, the insects, [and the] bugs and birds. So, I guess I had it in me a little bit, I just wasn’t sure how to recognize it. What drew me to science completely was my undergrad experience. I was in biology (general biology) but then I took some field courses, and as soon as I took those field courses, that’s when I knew that I needed to be outside, I need to play in the mud, and play with the animals and the plants. That changed my life completely.”
“If you had any advice for undergrads in general biology, what would that be?”
“[…] I think that it’d be to go outside. Take observations, take a look around you. Have fun, and explore everything around, whether it’s indoors or outdoors. Have that curiosity, don’t lose that curiosity about why certain things are, the way that they are. And, talk to other people. I think you’ll learn a lot by talking to your peers, and talking to your professors. Approach your professors! Be yourself! Have fun, go outside, and play!”
Third Year, Art & Art History Major, Double Minor in Italian and French
“What do people not know about you?”
“I’m quiet, I don’t talk about my personal life so I don’t know what people know or don’t know about me. I sing in a small opera company and teach vocal classes. I have a love for opera, it’s really dramatic!”
“Why aren’t you studying music?”
“I’m actually taking RCM exams. I don’t know if I want to start my own choir. When it comes to music, we’re merely instruments, it’s for the people. I’m the music for you.”
Fourth Year, Criminology & Third Year, Political Science
“We are headed to class!”
Fourth Year, Psychology Specialist
“This might seem a little unconventional, but after I graduate I want to pursue a hobby. Maybe become a formula 1 race car driver. I would also like to do graduate school in applied psychology.“
Second Year, Psychology
After she shared her outlook on accepting her friends as family, I was compelled to ask her how she came up with that kind ofphilosophy:
“I think maybe because my family is also very rollercoaster-like.
We have a lot of happy moments where we’re always laughing and always happy,
and a lot of moments where we’re angry at each other and we’re bitter and we
feel maybe a sense of hate… and it kind of makes it a little more
uncomfortable. But you take that uncomfortableness and you find comfortableness
in that uncomfortableness for you to
hold onto… and that’s what love is, you know? Love isn’t perfect. Love is
accepting each other for who they are.”
Third Year, Theatre and Drama Studies with a minor in English
“Do you find it hard juggling fatherhood and juggling school? What challenges do you face?”
“The biggest thing is the self
doubt about whether I should be here or whether I should be back home in Kitchener
where he lives with his mom. I have to tell myself that I’m doing the right
thing by being here and trying to make myself a better actor, a better student,
and a better man. It’s hard not to be with him all the time.”
“If you could go back, is there anything
you would change about your situation now? Would you put off school if you
could?”
“I’m really happy with my path and
the way that it worked out. If I could go back I’d do it the same way. I might
make some minor decisions differently, like being less embarrassed about the
fact that I was a teenage dad. I would tell myself that this is a good thing.
I’m so proud of him all the time and I wouldn’t take that back for the
world.”