Creativity
Weekly Report 12/05/2017 to 12/11/2017
On Wednesday, I had my Fall Conference meeting with Mr. Speice. We discussed various things, such as what I have learned from my past interviews, how I am going about selecting a mentor, and, most importantly, how I am feeling about my topic. Although I absolutely love the law and have only grown to enjoy it more through the ISM process, I have begun to have more doubts about this career being the best fit for myself.
Recently, I have been reflecting on the reasons which I decided to study criminal law this year. Not to discredit any part of this year- I have more than loved growing and learning about new parts of the legal system- but I have realized that I like the law because it embodies the skills which I am best at in a school setting. I have always excelled in both English and History, which employ lots of reading, analyzing, and writing. Because of this, I felt called to study criminal law to find a career that would help others in fighting for justice, while using my skills in these areas.
Lately, however, my parents have been reminding me of my hobbies that I used to have time for before high school. When I was younger, I created an instagram account and a YouTube channel dedicated to making recycled craft tutorials for my American Girl Dolls. I would build little houses out of cardboard boxes and cut out magazine pictures to furnish them and sculpt little clay pastries for my dolls to eat. I had an entire world of dolls that I would spend all of my time in, but as I got older, I had to stop filming tutorials and crafting gardens with popsicle stick fences and fake flowers and start spending my free time practicing for music competitions or studying for the SAT.
Visual art is something I have always enjoyed, not only in my American Girl Doll past, but also in taking summer art classes, editing advertisements for my mom’s Frisco Arts events, and photographing models for my mum challenge posters. I love making things look nice and brand well, and both of my parents have always told me I have an eye for graphic design.
Now, I know that this is all just a part of growing up and I could easily accredit this to nostalgia because I am getting increasingly busier, but I feel that there is still a part of me which wants to express my creative and innovative side. The other day, I had to film and edit a video of myself cooking a dish from a Latin American country for my AP Spanish 4 class, and I stayed up all night having fun editing. I did not even realize it was nearly three in the morning because I was having a blast adding titles and music to the video. I did not think anything of this, but when I was discussing how I have been feeling about my topic with Mr. Speice, I realized that I do not actively think about the law in my free time. Although I realize most people do not think about their jobs all day long, both of my parents work much longer than their actual hours because they love what they do and cannot stop coming up with new ideas, whether they are for future Frisco Arts events or new codes for NThrive. I would love to have a career that does not just feel like a job but instead a lifestyle.
This past semester has been incredibly eye opening and I cannot be more grateful for the wonderful interviews I have had with legal professionals, but, on the other hand, I would perhaps like to consider studying in this program again but for a different topic like social media marketing, graphic design, or something else along those lines that allows me to see if those careers could fulfill my true gifts and skill sets. This year I have been so focused on finding a career that allows me to help others, but I am now beginning to realize that any career will have ways to help contribute to a cause, whether it is providing legal service as a lawyer, stress relief as a comedian, or guidance as a counselor. I think that I may have placed my goal of making an impact too far above finding a career that I truly enjoy that could give back in other ways. Again, it is not that I have disliked any part of my ISM journey so far; I still absolutely love the law and and will definitely still aspire to go to law school, but considering a more creative option is something I will begin to look into for the future, even if that just means finding a way to add creativity to justice.