I have this tendency to get super excited about things. This passion drives me to complete tasks and give it my all….until I lost interest and give up. It is a frustrating habit of mine that causes me to procrastinate on numerous amounts of tasks. I was in the middle of my senior year and I was trying to fight an academic probation. I lost interest and my passion to finish my degree. It was a quiet numbness that surrounded me and I couldn’t shake the feeling of I wasn’t good enough to graduate. Slowing drifting into a eternal numbness of “Well that’s how it is going to be and I can’t change it”. Well, I’m happy to report how wrong I was.
I had a sit down with my adviser and she was said “Listen this isn’t a worse as it could be. However, I am not your mother and I can’t change this unless you want to change yourself.” I started to feel myself shake from my numbness and realize I’m too close to give up now. We moved around a couple of classes around and I retook the ones I failed. It felt like I could turn this around. Then my adviser suggested the new study abroad class in Costa Rica as my last class for FIU. Along with this suggestion she looked at me with hope in her eyes and said “you got this, envision that diploma in your hand. If anything you should create a vision board and put a picture of a diploma on there.” As corny as it sounds, that’s exactly what I did.
I drove to the craft store and loaded up on all different magazines and glitter I could put on this bad boy. I was excited again and it felt good. The first thing I stuck on there was the flyer for Costa Rica class and I continued to add things. My roommates came home and started to make fun of me for the board and kept saying how I was going to leave it unattended in about a week. I laughed with confidence saying how my life is going to change because of this board. Somehow my roommates knew my habits very well because the board was left half finished. However I did set in motion getting my grades higher up and setting a track in place to make Costa Rica happen. Slowly but surely the board did get finished.
Now fast forwarding to the actual week of the trip and I still had my procrastinating habits alive and well. However, somehow I made it to Costa Rica. The trip was absolutely amazing and brought back passions within me I had forgotten about. Especially one area of the trip at Rancho Margot. A eco lodge and all natural resort that offered their resources in all sustainable light. We stayed their for about two nights and it really was an experience I never had before but it was great. I remember touring the property with our tour guide and he showed us certain areas that contained live stock. One area had cows and these cows were the leanest and healthiest looking cows you could ever did see. We learned that these cows only ate the freshest of grass in order for their compost to be pure and re-purposed for soil. The guide even showed us the compost and you could see bits of grass growing from it. Professor Beltran explain this was a perfect example of life cycle analysis. Having a product complete the perfect circle from start to finish. I was quiet for a moment until I realized I need to develop my own perfect circle complex. So simple yet it was a habit that i desperately needed to adapt. No more procrastination and leaving tasks unfinished like my vision board. If I had an idea, it is going through start to finish without an hesitations.
We finished our time at the ranch and moved on to staying at a local community called Pueblo Nuevo. We were given the tasks of either helping paint the local community church or moving soil via wheelbarrow to cover a pipe near a area of plants. I decided to try the moving soil talks along one another person and we went to work. I decided to try out my new perfect circle analysis and stick with finishing the area within the time we were with the community. I struck my shovel into the dirt with a long, forgotten passion that was not inside me for quite sometime. I moved the wheelbarrow back and fourth until we had to go on break. The next day followed with more community work and I continued my work with the soil. Before I knew it, the job was done. I can’t describe to you the feeling of completing that job with such fire. It was the first task I completed using the perfect circle concept and it felt amazing. Through the rest of the trip I continued to develop that passion through learning about suitability and making new memories with great people.
This trip started something within me again. Something that can only be described as a small fire that is growing more and more each day. The days of procrastination and half attempting things are done. My time with the local community and Ranch Margot really did a number on me. I am using the life cycle analysis and adapting that perfect circle into my own life. Tasks that I need to get done will be seen through the very end and be completed with the fire I developed within. I owe an academic adviser, a simple vision board and most importantly Costa Rica more gratitude than I could possibly give. I can’t say I’m the perfect person with my flaws fixed but I am ready for a change. A change that is already in motion and it’s all thanks to a cows eating habits.
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