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True innovation

I had a friend my freshman year who often carried a cup of coffee with her almost everywhere. When I asked why she was had coffee even in the wee hours of the night, she told me that she only bought the drink to keep her hands warm. I laughed, but it's kinda smart, no?
"True self-esteem means recognizing, despite everything that your upbringing has trained you to believe about yourself, that the grades you get—and the awards, and the test scores, and the trophies, and the acceptance letters—are not what defines who you are.  
True innovation means using your imagination, exercising the capacity to envision new possibilities. It means not just “getting into” whatever school or program comes next. It means figuring out what you want for yourself, not what your parents want, or your peers want, or your school wants, or your society wants. When you walk into college, you are offered a choice among law and medicine and investment banking and consulting and a few other things, but again, you can also do something else, something that no one has thought of before." (Source: chronicle.com)
2006: I just wanted to fit in.

I know we went our separate ways, but there are still lots of things I admire about you C. I admired you so much for your confidence when we first came in as insecure freshmen, but I admire you now so much more for having the boldness to take a road less traveled.

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