When you least expect it, the world has a way of surprising you.

Just this past week, I submitted an entry into a local scholarship fund for Syracuse freshman. I spent two days, thinking over what I might create, what I would say and battling with the very idea that no matter what I did my entry would never be good enough. At the very last minute, well actually 50 minutes late to be exact, I sent in my submission via e-mail. I figured what's the harm in creating something that I believe in so strongly - sustaining the environment and wildlife.
Just a few days ago, to my complete surprise, I received an e-mail in reply to my submission:

Dear Christina:

It is with great pleasure, on behalf of the Syracuse University Philadelphia Alumni Club (SUPAC), to advise you that your entry submitted to the SUPAC Scholarship Fund has been selected and you have won one of the four $500 Scholarships to the Syracuse University Bookstore! 

 

Congratulations!

The second I read this, I immediately bursted into tears, so stunned and in such disbelief. All I kept saying to my mom was, "Oh my god...but, but I never win anything! I can't believe it!" Since this past Friday, which was when I received the message, I've tried to take this whole situation as a sign. That maybe, just maybe I might be cut out for this - for a life pursing my writing. As my father told me tonight, completely out of the blue while we were sitting alone in our living room watching the news and arguing about politics (nothing new, since my father is a die-hard conservative and I am quite liberal), "I think you're gonna be someone great someday. You're meant to do something great, in whatever you decide to do. I know you'll be able to hold your own with the big sharks." He said it with such confidence, as if he knew something about the future that I did not. Like the scholarship, but more so, he made me believe I could do anything. Absolutely anything. He made it seem as if the sky were limitless and all I had to do was hop on a plane and explore it to my heart's content. 

People always tell you to believe in possibilities, but no matter how hard I've tried in the past to believe that people could me different, the world could be different, I could be different...I never truly believed it. There was an aching suspicion in the back of my mind always telling me, "You can't really believe that, can you? There's no proof, no inclination that should lead you to believe this exists or that something is true. Don't believe." But now that little voice is beginning to disappear. Of course it's not going to go away cold turkey, but gradually I've begun to hear it's screeching voice less and less. I'm beginning to feel a new sense of confidence - one so freeing, that it could make you believe anything is truly possible as long as you just believe (that sounds familiar...).

So my lesson for today:

"Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities." - Terry Josephson