Chapter 22:
Missing Opportunities:
Gaining Motivation
I’m mostly a positive person. Optimism has always been a
part of my life. Life is a gift from God and being positive when life is in the
dumps is the best way to overcome obstacles.
Even though I try to stay positive through everything, missing
opportunities really gets to me.
This chapter is a
challenge for me.
Have
you ever heard the saying, “when one door closes, another one opens?” Chances
are you have heard it once or probably multiple times. I believe that the cliché
has great significance, but I want to open your eyes to something bigger.
Imagine a house. A house that has one door and
one window. The door is nothing special, the window is small, and looks like
something you would have drawn in the third grade.
Imagine you want the house. You want the house so badly, but you can’t enter the house
until you purchase it. You are allowed to look in the house through the window,
but that is the only thing that can influence your decision. When you finally
get a good look through the window, you decide that it is beautiful and it is
all you have ever dreamed of having.
You seek advice. Before you make a fairly large
offer on the house you seek advice from your closest relatives, friends, and
lastly a loan officer. After determining the best financial offer, you cross
your fingers and go all in.
Weeks or months pass. Finally you receive a call from
the real estate agent. She explains to you that your offer was rejected and
that there is no need for a counteroffer. The house can never be yours. You
will never have to chance to open the door and enter what YOU thought was your
dream house.
Anger and discouragement feels
your soul. You can’t
believe something you thought to be so perfect is not going to work out. The
house/opportunity was perfect in your eyes.
Step back, and breathe. Then you remember looking in
the window. YOU looked, and YOU thought YOU saw. God didn’t see that as your
dream house, but YOU saw. Then you smile, and realize God has a greater plan.
Maybe not right now, but it’s coming. God knows where your dream house is
located, he’s has the spot picked out for years. As you think about it you get
cold chills. Its God taking over. God is reassuring you to have faith and press
on. He encourages you to keep looking because one day he’ll reveal that
house/opportunity/life that you have been searching for. It’s not in this neighborhood;
it’s in God’s neighborhood.
The other night I was lying in bed and these thoughts came to me. They came to me on the same day that I was rejected from the GLOBE program here at UNC. The study abroad program was something that I truly believed was for me. I was planning ahead so that I could financially afford the opportunity, and I knew it would be a life changing experience. Then I was rejected. Just like in the house analogy. God didn’t see me going abroad for a year, but something different. What? I am not sure of at the moment, but I believe it will be more of a life changing experience than GLOBE ever could have been.
Being denied from the GLOBE program doesn’t mean that I am not accepted into the business school; it just means I will be in Chapel Hill for my junior year. I will also hear back from the business school about admission later this year.
The other night I was lying in bed and these thoughts came to me. They came to me on the same day that I was rejected from the GLOBE program here at UNC. The study abroad program was something that I truly believed was for me. I was planning ahead so that I could financially afford the opportunity, and I knew it would be a life changing experience. Then I was rejected. Just like in the house analogy. God didn’t see me going abroad for a year, but something different. What? I am not sure of at the moment, but I believe it will be more of a life changing experience than GLOBE ever could have been.
Being denied from the GLOBE program doesn’t mean that I am not accepted into the business school; it just means I will be in Chapel Hill for my junior year. I will also hear back from the business school about admission later this year.
God has
been speaking to me in a number of different ways this year. Through it all he
has reassured me that I am truly in a great place. The GLOBE program was not
for me. However, God blessed me with so many opportunities as a freshman, which
makes me believe and have faith. That house with the small window is for sale,
but God hasn’t revealed it to me just yet.
Thanks so much for the tour of UNC. I loved learning about the history and significance of things on campus. Visiting North Carolina was such an awesome trip! Little did I know I would meet someone for such a short amount of time that would impact me in such a great way! Even though UNC is just another option of the numerous universities I want to apply for, and even if I don't decide to attend you are proof that their students and the environment of the school are positive and exceptional; and through your blog you've painted a picture of something I can only hope to be a part of or experience during my future college years. Your blog has been very amusing and inspiring to read (I've spent the last couple of hours making up for lost time).High school is rapidly ending, even though i'm only a junior, college is something I dream about (and have been dreaming of for as long as I can remember), the challenge,obstacles and adversity you face getting to college as well as experience during is something I cannot wait for as well as something I dread. I fear failure and rejection but I know that doesn't mean I should give up (that's something very hard to do when you face people who don't believe you can accomplish the things you've always dreamed of and think they are way to far out of reach).
ReplyDeleteJust like you I have already made lists(... and lists, and lists) of goals and things I wish to accomplish. My excitement to become a "big kid" is unrealistic and most of my goals seem impossible to my peers. I come from a small town where no one really accomplishes anything, there is no such thing as dreaming, and no one ever strives to accomplish something bigger than attending the nearby colleges and working for a parent or grandparent's business. But I want to travel the world and accomplish great things and make my dreams come true, coming from a place where no one thinks that it is a possibility and that you have the capability to make it happen is very frustrating and hard to accept. I know I can't make others change their mind, but I know that I CAN and I WILL follow my dreams and make them happen... I refuse to stay in the same cycle that everyone before me has been involved with for so long. It is very reassuring to see someone much like myself with the same dreams and interests (business majors, studying abroad, faith) as well the same obstacles and adversities to know that they have experienced it too... and overcome it! Your advice is great. And lately I've been feeling like everyone is right but I won't give up, your blog was just the pick me up I needed, there are thousands of opportunities and I refuse to pass them up just because others don't think I will succeed. I hope everything works out for you and that your dreams come true. God has truly blessed you with an amazing gift whether you've realized it or not. I hope your book is published, and that you become successful upon your standards and that your future becomes as bright and magnificent as you've been dreaming it to be. Thanks for everything.
~the girl with the lost phone