My final year of my undergraduate studies, my department was
schedule to study abroad in Lacoste, France. The college I was at worked on a
quarter schedule, so my department was scheduled to go in the spring quarter,
which was our final quarter of the year.
My best friend was going, as well as my portfolio teacher, who I had
been with throughout the whole year. I
was really distraught on whether or not I should go because I had yet to land a
job and was in the process of communicating with a few companies who seemed
interested. I struggled with the
emotional conflict, as Stewart Levine discusses, with my decision to go and
risk losing a potential job, or stay and risk missing out on a once
in-a-lifetime opportunity. After
weighing my decisions, I decided to stay and not study abroad. I still question my decision to do so. I did end up getting a job during that time,
which was great, but I ended up not enjoying it a year later and have sense
left.
Using the “cycle of resolution”, I would have most likely
approached the situation differently and analyzed things in a way that would
have made it easier for me. First, I
would have thought about what it was that I really want to get out my
education, or “developing an attitude of resolution”. The second step I would have thought about
what I want my story to be. What do I
want to accomplish from my experiences?
Asking these questions would have helped me figure out how to tell my
story. I did a little bit of what Levine
mentions for telling your story. I asked
many different people what their experiences were when they studied abroad and
if they regret their decisions. In
almost all cases, everyone had an incredible journey and would not have changed
it. Listening to their stories now, I
feel I have a completely different perspective that I didn’t take into account
back then. Next, step would be to get
current and complete. Levine notes that
this step is about articulating what usually goes unexpressed. This is an area where I tend to struggle, as
I don’t express all of my thoughts fully.
If I had faced all of my thoughts at the time, I may have recognized
what my real reasons for not wanting or wanting to go were. Next, seeing vision for the future would have
helped to guide me to understand what was more necessary in terms of
experience; experience in a new culture and new environment, or on the job
experience with a new job.
Overall, I believe that the cycle of resolution would have
helped me face some of the ideas that I ignored during my decision making
process.
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