My Greatest Accomplishment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-FqJh4fzUk&feature=youtu.be

Fulfilling your dreams is often a multi step process.  There are many tasks and achievements that we all strive to concur in order to get closer to a dream.  I have always enjoyed public speaking and the performing arts.  A personal dream that I have for myself is to always be a supporter and advocate of the arts.  I have been competing in debate competitions for about a year and a half now, something that I very much enjoy.  I consider debate to be not only a hobby and a passion of mine, but also a performing art that I must continually practice at to perfect my performances in competitions.

Last year, after participating in about ten after school and weekend debate competitions of which I did very well , I decided to take a big step and register myself in a state championship competition.  Going into the competition, I had the mind set of doing my best and simply trying to offer myself the most challenging and exciting experience as possible.  I was by no means expecting to make it to the finals round and had not even considered the idea of making it into the top six.  Arriving at the competition, I knew that I was up against about 30-50 competitors and would have to get through five rounds of pretty draining recitation.  After eight hours of a long and hard day of debate, the list of the six top competitors in the final round was posted.  I was completely and totally shocked when I saw that MY name was on the list!  I knew that no matter what I would now receive at least 6th place in a state championship competition, and I was thrilled.  I calmed myself down and went to my final round where every single competitor was fantastic.  About an hour later, I sat with my family and team as I waited for my category of debate to be called up during the award ceremony.  The top six competitors were called to the stage and lined up as they called out the awards in reverse order.  One by one, I watched and listened in amazement as my name was continuously not called for sixth, fifth, fourth or third place.    The moment came as the announcer said, "And in first place, we have...Jordan Paurowski!"  I couldn't believe it. I had just become the top declamation competitor in the entire state of Florida.  After the awards, I congratulated my fellow competitors and celebrated with my family for the rest of the night.  Winning that competition was a huge accomplishment, and kept me right on the path of following my dreams.

I have posted a link to My Greatest Accomplishment video at the top of this post. 

Childhood Dream #3: Winning a big trophy for a competition.  I have now achieved that dream. :)

Changing Dreams and Following Your Dreams When Choosing A Career

My younger brother, Ethan, recently turned 10 years old.  I can remember when he was little and someone would say, "Ethan, what do you want to be when you grow up buddy?" My brother's responses would usually be something along the lines of Superman, Batman, Spiderman or the ever so cool astronaut.  When I asked him the other day what he wanted to be I received very different responses.  Ethan told me that he would enjoy being things like an actor, a lawyer, a talk show host or an architect.  When I asked why he no longer wanted to be a superhero, he responded by telling me that that was a "crazy idea", and that he has matured since he was little.  He's pretty smart for his age I might add.  The point of this is that our dreams can and do change quite often, and that's fine.  I think it's a good thing actually.  As we grow, we all want and strive for different goals, achievements and dreams.  These are probably very different from the dreams we had when we were five years old.  I find very often that people are almost afraid of altering a dream, perhaps because they feel like they're giving up on something.  I have very recently decided that my lifelong dream of going to an Ivy League school is not necessarily something that I want anymore for multiple reasons.  Dreams are fluid, and we have to allow them to be.  For example, I've been told since I was about 6 years old that I should be a lawyer.  All throughout elementary and most of middle school, I was sure that I would be a lawyer and was doing everything I could to get myself on the path of success.  However, as I was entering high school, I thought more about my interests and passions.  This led me to discover that I really wanted to be a doctor, not a lawyer.  Now, one of my biggest dreams is to be a heart transplant surgeon and save lives.  This brings me to my next point: following your dreams when choosing a career.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to wake up every single morning in the future dreading going to work.  That's why it is so important to follow your dreams when choosing what you want to do for a large majority of your life. While it's important to think about things such as salary, hours and benefits when choosing a career path, I think that doing something you love is equally as important.  I hear people all the time saying, "I wouldn't do that, they don't make enough money."  It almost saddens me to hear this, because I know that someone is giving up on a dream that they could love.  I recently found an interesting article describing the most common dream jobs and what they actually pay.  We each get one life to live the way that we want to.  Why should we not be that astronaut who discovers aliens? Or a writer who sells millions of books?  Or a veterinarian who saves animals?  The answer is...you SHOULD. With hard work and dedication I truly believe that anything is possible.  My mom is still constantly telling me that I should be a lawyer, but she says it with the knowledge and hope that I will do whatever makes me happiest in the end.  A paycheck is a piece of paper.  Being happy in life is priceless.
Here is a link to the article I was discussing.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/12/14/what-common-dream-jobs-actually-pay/

Childhood dream# 2:  Having the ability to read minds.