A couple of days ago I was at Starbucks interviewing a rather prominent person in New Albany for a paper I am writing. I was kind of nervous about the interview so I made sure to wear my “dress for success” outfit and my glasses. For a jeans and T-shirt girl, I thought I looked professional.
The interview was going well, and I got the information I needed. I made a good first impression. The problem occurred in my second impression. We were walking out the door, and I had a full cup of coffee in my hands. There was the trash can (or unbeknownst to me, just the trash can’s lid) right in front of me to dump my cup and walk out the door. So I dropped it in.
Unfortunately, I didn’t notice the employee next to the container putting a liner on the bottom holder. I basically dropped my full cup of coffee on the floor, and it spilled out from underneath the bottomless trash can almost covering this guy’s feet.
I began to profusely apologize to both the employee, who had a homicidal look on her face, and the guy I was interviewing. I kept saying over and over again, “I’m such a klutz.” In the end, I left a very false last impression. I told this story to a friend of mine, and she gave me some really good advice.
She said I should watch what I say about myself in front of other people. There is a well-known proverb that says, “The tongue has the power of life or death and those who love it will eat its fruit.” It is basically saying we have the authority to make what we say come true. This can be in the positive and negative sense.
As college students, we are constantly being graded and evaluated. We get bad grades and we say we are failures. We say we don’t study enough, so we call ourselves slackers. The worst part is we tell this to other people, and we start acting the way we talk. I have a problem with apologizing for myself all the time. I apologize for the way I talk, act, walk across the Oval, anything.
When we criticize ourselves people hear what we say. How many times have I heard people say to each other, “I’m not very smart, or I’m not going to make it, or I’m too lazy, or I get drunk all the time? Even when it’s joking, people hear it, and we create illusions about ourselves.
I’m not here to be a motivational speaker, but when I walk across campus I notice too many people laughing about the horrible things they say about themselves. There is so much power in the words we say, especially when we comment on our character. We have to be people that always are conscious about what we say. It takes discipline, practice and faith. When we recognize something is lacking about ourselves it is better to be silent and figure out a way to improve.
It is going on the 10th week of classes, and a lot of people feel it is too late to do anything about their classes or grades. If we say it, then it is true. We have to be in survival mode all the time, talking about ways we’re going to succeed. It is important we keep talking about our dreams, and our goals for graduating. Although it may not be instant, you will become the good things that you say.
Jennifer Marin is a sophomore in journalism. She used Proverbs 18:21 and wishes all her readers good luck on the last week of classes. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
