Certified Believer
by Aujene Jecole
The best way I can live my life is by trusting and believing in myself. Some people only believe in themselves. Some people only trust in themselves, but in order to truly succeed you need both. Believing in thyself gets the foot in the door, but trusting the inner soul is a relationship bond I had to build with myself. Once I graduated high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew my path was going to be unique. I’m a fan of diverse communication so when I decided to attend the College Of Southern Nevada to study American Sign Language, my mindset was engraved on believing that I was smart enough to accomplish my academic goals. Convincing myself wasn’t enough; in reality, I also had to trust myself.
Nine Months before today I sat in my bed wondering how my life would be if I went to college. Every single day, I wondered what it would be like to be a college student. The responsibility of navigating my own schedule, budgeting my classes, disciplining myself to focus, and making the effort to communicate with my instructors was overwhelming my mind. Returning to school is something I desired so deeply, I began tossing and turning thinking about it at night. At this moment I had the passion, but I lacked the mentality to believe in myself. Seeking guidance, I went to some of my family members and my aunty, Michelle Lafrance, reassured to me that timing is not the issue. She explained to me how the only reason she graduated with a master’s Degree at 60 is because she believed in herself. Instantly my fears eliminated, and I began researching schools for Languages. I came across the study program of DEAF STUDIES at the College of Southern Nevada, and I decided to put faith in myself, and I enrolled.
Trusting myself to study, learn, and work hard has been a steppingstone. Anyone can have dreams but the truth is not all of them come true. My dreams on the other hand always fall into place when I take the time to build a relationship with myself. Trust in a relationship requires honesty and loyalty. I had to face the truth about my work ethics and make a loyal commitment to myself to try my hardest to never give up. Trusting myself to succeed is easy when I’m comfortable with my environment for the sole reason of me knowing the outcome. My trust became quite unstable when I realized my physical attendance was needed for my American Sign Language Class. I don’t know this language and I haven’t sat down in a classroom in over three years. Despite my fears, I knew that the only way I would make it to class on the first day, August 30th , 2021 is if I trusted in myself and believed that I could do it . To my surprise the first day of school was amazing! If I had left my fate in the hands of unbelief, I wouldn’t be in school accomplishing my academic dreams. Ultimately, learning how to trust myself has taught me to be courageous in embracing my failures, successes, accomplishments, and even struggles. In this transitional period of life, I have learned that the first step is always believing and trusting in myself.