The power of taking it slow

there was a girl whose big dream was to

study in an international school

to living in campus and experience

foreign cultures

but at the end of the day she turned out

to be just a dreamer

in fact she never realized that all the

opportunities out there in the world

could be available for her one day and

she calmed herself thinking that

this dream was too unrealistic for her

to come true

but one day this transparent glass

barrier shattered

it happened when one of her friends

actually took a step towards his dream

and as a result he succeeded he was

admitted one of the most prestigious

international colleges in the world

and you know this shook the girl to the

car like

many questions rose in her head and

remained unanswered

so my dream wasn’t as unrealistic as i

thought

she asked herself what would it be if i

realized it earlier

in what way would it change my life

is it too late but wait what if

there’s no need to rush at all

you may think this is story of failure a

story of unfulfilled dreams but actually

it’s a story of awakening and somehow

changing the mindset

because it all starts in the mind and

this shift and perceptions also change

the girl’s life to the core

and as you probably already have

understood that girl

was me so from that day on i was

convinced that if you want to change

something around you

first of all you should change the way

you think and the way you approach

challenges

and this also works in society if we

want to develop

we must reconsider our perceptions of

some fundamental issues

sometimes i feel very disconnected from

the world

i’m not talking about the emotions which

are too personal and may be associated

with various circumstances

it’s just i as a youngster as a part of

society

fill myself in a confined circle in

armenia

you may say this is normal this is this

is the country and i live in right

but when i see how young people from

different parts of the world

communicate with each other so actively

how many programs opportunities they use

in order to reach their

dreams and the goals i just feel like we

don’t live our lives to the fullest and

we

overlook many benefits of life

and this is all because the restrictions

that we have created for ourselves

that often make just no sense and i

believe i’m not the only one who

thinks so and here comes the question

why are we so isolated then

you know it’s hard to give a definite

answer but one thing is clear

that the problem is deeply rooted in our

minds and worldview

when i was in middle school i remember

that we were having a discussion about

dominion highland

and a million a million plato but

i do remember that carl ritter a famous

german geographer

has given armenia plato a name the

mountainous

island and it seems like this name has a

prophetic meaning for us even centuries

later

we act like we are an island in this big

big world

but actually no one is island no man is

island

and this refers to countries and nations

as well

we are all human we have the same needs

our feelings are the same

and it’s just illogical not to use the

beneficial experience of other nations

in order to grow and prosper so

why i am telling you all this it’s

because even the best ideas coming from

abroad

are highly resisted in armenia before

being adopted

and one of these ideas is the idea of

taking a gap here

actually i felt the need to talk about

it when i realized during the

conversation

that many of my friends had no idea

about it

and it is so unfamiliar and typical for

us

that we don’t even have the

corresponding armenian term

the problem is that even before we are

born a certain plan is drawn for most of

us and we are to follow it

deviation from this plan is mostly

unacceptable

so the child has to go to kindergarten

then go to school for 12 years then go

to university

graduate get a job and also not forget

about getting married

such great responsibility has been

entrusted to us

we must not be mistaken we must do

everything on time

we must continue the work of our sisters

and the list could be continued

so taking a gap here

it’s just a way it’s just a waste of

time you are losing a year that say

but while we are in a hurry we do not

know

maybe just because we want to cram in as

much as possible in order to be

productive but at what cost

sometimes taking it slow can be more

decisive

than rushing into decisions

you know taking gap here is

beneficial it’s not a bad thing we

see that it’s not a bad thing then why

it is so unfamiliar to us

and why people are being so judgmental

when it comes to

taking a gap year is it because we have

a stereotype that everyone should go to

university

if he or she wants to achieve something

like some point of success

and if they don’t do this this means

only one thing

they failed their entrance exams or just

they didn’t even try because they knew

it would be a failure

but who said the only way of being

educated is attending university

after all there are so many formal and

informal ways of education

and really not everyone is going to be a

doctor

lawyer teacher etc

and who said you should know what you

want to do the rest of your life

at that age like what if you don’t know

it is because of this stereotype that

hundreds of students

and to universities without even knowing

what they

want in life and why they study this or

that profession

and you know after a couple of years

they just end up working in a completely

different field

starting just all over again

it also happens that when the students

grades aren’t high enough to enter the

faculty they desire

they just enter to a completely

different faculty in order to just stay

at university

and maybe escape from criticism

coming from public friends family

my point is to show you how some social

norms can

slow down and hinder the development of

the nation

maybe there were one significant but

times change

and that’s why we must reconsider our

perceptions

you know it’s not okay to be

disconnected from the world just because

of the fear

of losing some values coming from ages

it’s better to explain the importance of

it rather just than

banning other ideas to occur to us

public opinion

and the pressure coming of it don’t

change over a few

days but if they change then only as a

result of the struggle

of strong individuals today

i’m not offering a specific solution

really but i believe that every time

we speak about it it brings us one step

closer to the solution

and as it was in my case another

person’s experience

can be the very stimulus for you to

prosper

and this is how the chain reaction

begins

gap here was just an example one of the

thousand reasons why we shouldn’t hurry

why we should live our own lives leave

it to the fullest

and instead of using some patterns

created by society

we are the only decisions makers of our

own lives and the only ones responsible

for our future

if you are a teenager i hope this is an

inspiration for you

not just to rush through your university

but to stand still

to take your time to stand still and

develop yourself

coming back to my story as i said it’s

not a story of failure

it’s a life-changing realization that

sometimes

taking it slow can be more of a gain

than a loss

it can be more of a success than just

feeling lagged behind

no matter where we are at in your

journey you won’t get anywhere if you

are rushing yourself into the ground

so it’s the time to take a step back and

assess

what we are doing and where we are going

and we’ll see

then when we focus on the actual journey

the satisfaction is sure to follow thank

you