Lawns, Mountains and College Applications
Posted by Sharon Cece on January 5th, 2009
I got some great advice not long ago and it was this: “The hardest part about cutting your lawn is not actually cutting your lawn. The hardest part is deciding to put your hands on the handle of the mower”. It sounds simplistic, but I realized that’s true about most things in life; deciding to do something is the most difficult part of any process. Once you make a decision, either way it’s pretty much a done deal.
My college application process was a breeze compared to my back-and-forth justifications for not returning to school at this time or that time. Excuses are easy to formulate and I’m as good at making them as anyone else. That’s not to say they weren’t valid. But I was more surprised than anyone, when finally deciding okay this is it I’m going back to school, how seamlessly and effortlessly everything fell into place. I dropped off my application at Florida State while we happened to be driving in the region on vacation. I mailed in my transcripts, provided the additional necessary paperwork, got the acceptance, filled out my financial aid forms and the next thing you know I was a college student again.
As you’re reading this you’re probably thinking nothing is ever that easy, but it’s astounding to me how much can get done when you, excuse the banality and oft-used Nike reference, just do it. Just put your hands on the handle. Just start climbing the mountain. Just fill out the first form, then the next form. From a distance it seems overwhelming but up close and in parts it’s wholly doable. Almost anything in this world, especially those copious application demands, can and will get done when achieved in small parts.
My advice for college applicants is this: once you decide, despite the wide expanse of overgrown lawn, to put your hands on that handle, once you decide to confront the formidable crag, once you decide to tackle the application process step by intricate step–after you take a deep breath–then plunge in with all your heart. That means whatever roadblocks come your way, whether it be rocky patches or jagged edges or a multitude of paperwork, transcripts, emails and financial aid forms, just get ‘er done. Don’t look too far ahead and don’t be dissuaded by the effort needed to start you on the road to graduation. The decision is the hardest part. The rest is just a walk on the lawn.
