Avoiding the Open Door
“I do not see mistakes as failures but experience paving the way to
success.” –GYC Girl YOU Crazy
Have you ever made a mistake, started to live the mistake, and then
finally admitted you were wrong…so you could start over??? I know I’m not by
myself!
Although I do not see mistakes as failures, I have to tell my story
for you to see my experience as paving the way to success.
Well here’s the story, my story:
Remember how I said that if
college was a must for me that it had to be Parsons…and NYC is my dream home?
If not, “My
Dream is Mine and Yours is Yours” is the place to be…after you finish here
of course! However, I’ll give a quick recap: 6th grade was the best, realized
my dream and dream college (if I had to go…that’s another post), fast-forward…I came, I saw and graduated from my dream
college. Now, lets discuss the in between!
GYC Girl YOU Crazy Timeline
aka my own version of what a timeline looks like and the way I’m going to tell
this story!
This story will have enthusiasm here and there but it is written this way to
get straight to the point (10 point story).
“Everyone has an important moment that determines the next moment…often
we call it the substance of life.”- Now Speaking
1---Junior year (high school), the year that sets off the possibilities of
senior year, and the life after.
My Junior
Year Checklist:
+Take the SAT, twice was enough (don't judge)
+Apply to college (only Parsons…fashion
design program)
+Last chance to do my best,
grade wise, not that I wasn't already but this was year to show off a little
more…(colleges rarely look at senior year grades, so I was told)
2---Summer after junior year…lets make it count!
+I went to Parsons
Pre-College Design and Management (business) program for 30 days…MY FIRST TIME
IN NYC and if I may add, the 1st time being away from home by myself!
+Realized that NYC is really my dream home…I LOVED IT!
-Made international friends
and met random celebs, yea that experience came with many interesting stories,
anyway.
+I came back home, and
wanted to spend the day observing at Paul Cicchini, a high-end custom clothier
shop…they let me, so I did, and it was
amazing, they are amazing!
3---Senior year, the results
are in…
+I didn’t get in, so what now?
++ I applied to 2 other
design schools’ fashion design program, 1 in NYC and the other in LA…of course
I get into the school in LA that starts in the summer instead of fall. ++
4---Fast Forward: They (Parsons) keep emailing me…leave me
alone, the door is closed! Isn’t it?
+The emails say “Keep us in
your academic career” and all that jazz!
+Then I realized that I
could have possibly messed up by applying to the fashion design program instead
of business.
+But I knew it had to be too
late, so I started the application for Parsons Paris’ business program-> it
wasn’t too late for that (yes, I was all over the place)!
5---In the meantime, I have to go somewhere (out of state!!!), I love NYC
but I guess it’s on hold for now…LA here I come!
+They let me in, so here I
come…summer session, YAY (and yes I did pump myself up to be excited)!
++ The door was open so… ++
6---Sometimes we can’t see the open doors
attached to our dreams and someone else has to open our eyes to see. I told a family friend
about the emails from Parsons, and although I thought I was over it, she knew
my desire to live in NYC and that I
shouldn’t give up.
+My family friend called
Parsons to find out what went wrong… "A rejection letter is not always the
end but a stepping stone to the next level."-Me
-I moved to LA in July & started school
-I realized that LA was not the LA on TV and wondered what “life” I would have
here? (I am sure that LA is awesome and hopefully one day I will get to
experience its awesomeness but I needed NYC in my life!)
7---I walked
through the wrong door because it was open but my dreams preserved the right
open door & waited for me!
+My family friend talked to
one of the Parsons' admission representatives and she pulled out my file…and
there was a sticky note in my file... My
rejection file saying, “I should have applied to the business program.”
++ To
this day...a sticky note in my rejection file still amazes me, it's not over till it's over! ++
8---Prepare for the right open door
+The rep. said that
everything in my file was admissible but I just needed to write the BBA
(business program) application essay.
+I had already written the
essay to apply for Parsons Paris.
+The door was not closed in
NYC but I knew that the door known as LA would not close for me but I needed to
close it myself.
-After all, I did have to make myself excited to go there because I had to leave home after high school
& that is the truth!
9---Be Bold,
Be Courageous and Walk through the Right Open Door.
+I packed up my short-lived
LA life, shipped it home, withdrew from the LA school, and went home to get
ready to walk through my right open door!
+The Parsons admission rep.
told me to email the essay, "they" would print it out, and present it
to the board with the other applicants…and I would immediately have the
decision by email!
10---The end of July,
expected arrival for freshman is the end of August…
+I got in…with
a month before everyone/I am supposed to be there…I got
in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+And the journey continued as I walked through the open door designed
specifically for my purpose and me!
++ If ever there was such a loud Girl YOU Crazy moment…this was
it! (So much negative Nellies in my ear, directly & indirectly)++
GYC Commentary: Sometimes we do force access “Yea this door was open, it
was busted up like that when I got here” or an all time favorite “stutters: ‘See
what had happened was…’” Placing ourselves in a place we were never supposed to
be. In life we will find that there are
many mistakes posing as an open door, and we will go through them because
it’s available right now! However, if we hold onto our dreams no matter the
mistakes, we’ll find that the right open door is waiting on us.
GYC Personal Commentary (even though
this entire story is personal…):
I was at the right door with the wrong purpose, left and went to the wrong
door because it was available but the right door was waiting on me to open it
when I was ready with the right purpose. Okay let me try again: I was at the
right door but didn’t have the right key, the door wasn’t closed, and I needed to know why I was there so I could
have the right key to gain access.
-Lauren Alicia GYC Girl YOU Crazy Creator
