Bold Learning and Changing Scholarship

What defines you? Who defines you? How do you find your identity? I used to think it was simply how other people viewed you. So how did I see myself? Growing up with the discipline of learning the piano, I constantly had to stay vigilant in improving. You could imagine how well 7-year-old Elishah, who was into video games and cartoons, handled that. I couldn’t bear the responsibility many times. The conflict between what I wanted and what my parents wanted caused problems. I grew to resent piano and thus did poorly. My parents thought the answer was even more pressure, denying consideration of my feelings or any pleading of mine to let me quit. For years I didn’t meet their expectations or my teachers’. My poor self-esteem and confidence caused me to suffer not only in music, but in education, social interactions, and self-care. According to them, I was defined as a failure. But throughout life, I learned something that changed everything: What truly defines a person is their decisions. So long as you commit to never giving up, then you are not a failure. This perspective shift impacted me immensely. It allowed me to see myself in a new light. I wasn’t a failure. Success and failure are outcomes that no matter how we delude ourselves we can’t control. We may have major influence over it but not the final say. However, the decisions we make in the deciding moments are completely ours to rule over. I was a boy who got back up when every loss told me to stay down. I metamorphosized from a boy defined by the world’s standards to a young man that is characterized by his ability to move forward in spite of everything that wants to hold me back.