Personal Narrative: My Pursuit Of Financial Success

The important pursuit of financial success is an idea that has been drilled into my head by the adults in my life from early on; my parents struggled in life, and for me they wanted a better, easier, future for me. What I took away from this was that I would not be successful and happy without the money and credentials as well. I could not understand why so many of my classmates wanted to be writers and artists; didn't they too want to be successful? However, the summer before my senior year, I had an idea that would change my thought process forever: a visit to the gateway of success, the Naval Academy. I first heard of the Academy through email, a reminder that the applications to the school’s seminar were open. I clicked on the website
Now I had an important decision to make: let cognitive dissonance take over and curb my toward what the epitome of success had to offer, or realize that maybe this place wasn't for me. I want to be in a place open to ideas with plenty of classes from which to choose, I want to study what I dream about and, most importantly, I want to be my own person, not one in a crowd of many. I decided to revise my previous idea of what a successful life meant and do what I felt would prepare me for who I wanted to be as an adult; I canceled my application and explained to my family why I took such a drastic step. On my own time, I figured out who I wanted to be, even if that meant not having the fortune and fame that came with stereotypical success, and this made me feel like a new person. I know I will not regret my decision and that my future is going in the proper direction for me to reach my goal: to study microbiology throughout college and graduate school, and work at the CDC, a dream completely different from the one I started with, but also one so much more true to my