Changing attitudes could change your life

        In our long lives, we will encounter various people, incidents, and also difficulties which would form our personalities and attitudes. The attitudes and characters may exist for a long time so that it is hard for us to change them. In these two essays, each of them has a turning point, which stimulates the authors to change their attitudes. After changing their perspectives, they become happier and can enjoy life better. Maybe after reading these two essays, you would start to think of changing attitudes is a marvelous way to live a more magnificent life.
劉庭熒
        “Your scores of Joint College Entrance Examination are the following.” When I received the score letter, I felt that this day was the end of the world. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t fill the answer of a multiple choice question on the answer sheet! Because of my foolishness, my goal of entering the School of Management at National Central University was broken into pieces, just like my heart. When I realized that I could only enter Chung Hsing University, majoring in the department of foreign languages and literatures, my face was like a wet weekend because I couldn’t accept the reality. But as the saying goes, “Sometimes misfortune is a blessing in disguise.” Through this unlucky event, I changed my attitudes toward things that I once looked down upon; and now, I feel very lucky for experiencing this.

        At first, I thought that learning literature was a waste of time, not practicable, and couldn’t help us to find a better job. While listening to a professor’s lecture, I was always pondering what I could do after learning all these things? Like the department of accounting, they learned accounting and could become an accountant, or like the department of chemistry, they could use what they have learned to invent cosmetic or medicines. But what could I do with literature? The more I thought about this problem, the more I rejected to enter this department and didn’t want to study.

        As time went by, I gradually had more interest in literature, and saw the fascinating part of it. I had a good time discussing plots and characters with my classmates. Through talking about fictions or poems, I could know my classmates’ distinctive ways of thinking and then knew further about their personalities. There were various kinds of opinions and thoughts, sparkling their own wonderful color, and combine into a gorgeous rainbow. It was a beautiful scenery.

        Eventually, my thoughts changed because of watching a video clip. The video clip was filmed by a graduate student who was also from my department. It was about what you could learn from this department and what literature could do. She said that reading literature could understand western thoughts. Just like if foreigners know Confucian thoughts, they could understand more about our feelings or why we would act like that. Also, we could learn how to think logically. While reading, we would think of what message the author wants to deliver or what the meaning behind the character’s action is and so on. At last, we could cultivate our critical thinking skills. There isn’t only one right answer to literature. People could have their own explanation. So, we could discuss and talk about different ideas as well as learn how to illustrate our opinions in a good way. Since watching this video clip, I have realized that there are lots of things that I could learn from this department. Maybe these things are not skills which could be used in a specific job, but they are important personalities that could help us through our entire life.

        After doubting myself and not knowing where to go, I eventually found out the path which I could keep moving on without hesitating. Moreover, I not only learned not to have preconceptions toward things which I didn’t know much but also realized that being modest to all kinds of knowledge is significant so that I won’t miss chances to broaden my horizons.

左玉如
  

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude,” said the laureate poet. During the studying process, I am invariably perplexed about my future, pondering on the meaning of studying. And the thought “Studying is nothing but meaningless” keep haunting my mind. Gradually, my passion slipped away. It was not until I read a book and a quote that I regained the purpose of my life. The book and the quote make me change my attitudes toward not only studying but the whole life. With the changed attitudes, I find my inner peace while studying and savor every failure.

In the past few years, I was just like a skiff aimlessly floating on the bondless ocean of knowledge. I was at a lost, doing things regularly but monotonously. My daily life was overwhelmed by countless tests. I compared my scores with others and was afraid of any failures. Nevertheless, I didn’t truly think about what I wanted; instead, I just followed the trend, pursuing the achievement blindly.

While losing in the abyss of blind comparing and doubting the meaning of studying, I occasionally read a book which changed my thinking manner. The book told me that we don’t need to compare ourselves with others desperately because terminally the person whom we need to take responsibility for is ourselves. And what we truly pursue is the inner peace lying in our minds not the vulgar achievement. Furthermore, studying makes you have the chance to choose what you want instead of being forced to earn a living. Those words awaked me, revived my zeal, and gave me the motivation to keep going on.

Now, as a college student, I study for myself with the inner peace lingering. Although constant setbacks have made me prone to lose enthusiasm, as the quote goes, “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain.” Keeping this as my motto, I won’t dwell on the sadness; instead, I will savor the experience which I’ve learned from the failure, and then reignite my enthusiasm.

After changing attitudes, I no longer fall into a trap of being bewildered toward future. I realize that the person whom I should take responsibility for and study for is not my parents or anybody but myself. What’s more, facing the future, I will take a positive attitude, dance in the rain, and look for the silver lining whenever I’m confronted with failures or setbacks.

            Picture 1: http://newtalk.tw/news/view/2017-06-29/90671
Picture 2: https://www.educationcorner.com/study-skills.html