The Voice in Your Head: Listen to it!

This week, I was chatting with an Aunt about fitness, our family, and it lead into genetics. I mentioned that genetics were always a big interest of mine and she asked if I’d ever wanted to go to school to study it and without hesitation, I said I had at one point. I went on to say that since I was only average in school, many people told me that I would never be able to get into University. And as I continued typing, I made a realization that stung; it was “And I believed them”

Among many vague memories of various people telling me that I wouldn’t or couldn’t amount to certain things, I vividly remember signing up for chemistry in grade 11 and sitting in the front row. I was stoked to start learning some heavy duty science! Then on the first day, the teacher gave an introductory speech where he included that anyone who isn’t strong in math might as well drop his class right now because there is a lot of math in chemistry. And my heart sank.

I had failed every math class between Grade 8 and Grade 12. So the next day I went to the counsellor’s office and told him I wanted to drop chemistry - a decision I made out of fear and one that I would come to regret for quite some time. And while I believe everything happens or a reason, and that the choices we make determine our path and we end up right where we are supposed to be, I can’t help but sometimes wonder what my life would have looked like had I pushed and worked harder to make that happen.

Of course now that I'm older, I know that not everybody learns the same way. I've realized that I do have a level of intelligence that's admirable - it's just not in the way that the education system measures intelligence. I’m writing. I'm creative. I’m innovative and my EQ is through the roof! And I now know that these things are far more important to the life I want to create for myself and my world, than my high school GPA. And further I have surrounded myself with like-minded people who appreciate who I am and what I am trying to do.

Call it naïveté but when I was a child, and adults told me information, I believed them. I never questioned the education system, or the curriculum, or if they were right or wrong. I simply assumed that they were right because they were adults and how many times did you hear “because I said so!” when you were growing up?

It wasn’t until very recently that I learned that the only voice you need to listen to is the one inside you. And it’s still something that I am working on and getting better at every day. But what I want to get across in this post is two things:

1. If you're a person who is trying to find their way, you’re reading my blog and relating to the things I am saying, I hope that you will learn from my story and question things that people tell you. Listen to your instincts. Listen to your gut. And listen to your own voice above all others.

2. If you're an adult and you have influence on children, be it as a teacher, a parent, or grandparent, an Aunt or Uncle, build those children up! If you do not have words of encouragement or praise for the child in your life, than please don't say anything at all. You may think you are doing them a favour or saving them the disappointment by sharing what you think is “ the reality” but you will be doing them a much bigger favour by letting them learn to listen to their own intuition and create their own realities. Do not clip their wings before they learn to fly!

Needless to say, my passions no longer lie in sciences. That is not the path that I've carved out for myself. I still find biology and psychology particularly interesting and perhaps will study them more in depth one day. But regardless of what I am doing with my life, or the path that I am on, I will continue to work on shutting out the naysayers and listening to my own instincts to follow my path. Because it’s my path!