My Comment to Lucy's Blog

I completely agree with you Lucy this summer I got awarded a scholarship to attend to the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)after applying for the second time. I knew how much I wanted to challenge myself and I was not going to give up on applying. Apparently persistence is a good quality. But I didn't get what I wanted instead destiny was determined to challenge me to the fullest it was in my hands to take it or leave it. Whitewater rating and kayaking? Yes. I had no idea how to swim or even of what this course was going to consist of but I did not let this intimidate me. Drive is a quality that comes/ emerges from the heart without this quality we can not truly learn how to master something.

My Drive

I have been VERY busy this summer and I have always come to this blog and clicked on the "new post" button various times but never got around to typing. I started reading DRIVE while working at the Houston Zoo this summer and somehow found some of the ideas mentioned in the book similar to what I was doing on my own. I am going to be honest and say that this book wasn't my favorite but it did open my eyes to a lot of things. For example, whenever the author mentioned about offering a reward, like money, for an action to be done can be dangerous I could honestly say to myself I have witnessed that. My younger sister doesn't enjoy reading and so during the summer my family has accustomed her to read and she knows she will receive an amount of money in return. Obviously she finds a way to not really read the book and receive the reward. It reminded me about the part in the book where the idea of a not so well job done will be a consequence. On the other hand I realized that my love for animals and volunteer work is the other type of motivation mentioned in the book. I first applied to the Houston Zoo Crew program because I would love to spend my summer working with animals and gaining more knowledge about them. As I worked my hundred hours I realized that I was being rewarded in small ways, such as, discounts, the laughter of the campers and knowledge. The book then became a bit more interesting to me because I realized how much these kind of scenarios happen everyday and one goes through life not really paying much attention to it. My drive this summer was keeping myself busy helping others while in return gaining many rewards that weren't always necessarily money.