My personal credo that I live by

    "If it's open it's open," "Si esta abierto esta abierto," or "si c'est ouvert c'est ouvert." What one might think is a simple saying has been a guiding principle for me for a significant part of my life. This statement has set a baseline for how I view people, interactions, objects of desire, and even the makings of the natural world. It has allowed me to alter my perspective and allowed me to have confidence in situations where I might feel uncomfortable. People who partake in this ideology, I feel, begin to develop a strong sense of leadership. When a group or organization you are in has times of uncertainty and ambivalence, those who can not only see the openness of the possibilities, but how they feel it should go tend to, whether they realize it or not, shape the environments they reside in and rise up as leaders and directors. In discussions, when there is a period of silence or halting, the conversations is "open" for your perspectives or ideas. Don't be afraid of feeling out of place or unwelcome with your ideas as every "opening" is a chance for new possibilities and new interactions. If you are competing with others for a coveted prize or reward. Don't be afraid of trying to succeed when it means others have to fail. The object you desire is "open" to anyone who has a chance to win it, regardless of effort or merit. But there are plenty of more possibilities to use this motto than the ones I have given. You can apply this mentality wherever you want to and I encourage you to try it wherever you can.

    The origins of this saying are fairly recent, although I doubt I was the first person to say those words in this exact order. I was talking with some groupmates during science class when one of them saw an opened bag of chips and proceeded to take some for himself. When he was promptly ridiculed for eating opened food of unknown age he responded with the concise statement of "If it's open it's open." What I first laughed at as a ridiculous response slowly began to grow on me as I repeated it, at first as a joke but it grew to be something I actually believed.  Slowly, I began justifying my actions with this phrase, at first to other people in on the joke, but eventually I began to repeat it in my head as a sort of reasoning to convince myself. I began to try new things, take more chances, more risks. and I owe it all to that one simple phrase. For example, over the summer, in a delirious state of boredom, I convinced myself that I was going to finally learn to code. I have always wanted to learn how to code but due to a mix of a lack of time and a worry that I'd fail ad waste my time, I never ended up really starting. But during the summer I had plenty of free time to learn at my own pace. The opportunity was "open" for me to take so I finally started to try coding and barely got anywhere. Despite my best attempts coding is not my strong suit and I struggled to find motivation to continue. But the end result isn't what is important. Not all open doors lead to success but you can never find what you truly enjoy without taking chances and spending your time on something you aren't certain about.

    As easy as I make this process sound, we all know how hard trying new opportunities can be. They could be stressful, upsetting, difficult, and frustration. This motto however, isn't there to help you automatically overcome these issues. Rather I personally use it to try and demystify the options available to me in life. Typically, I have found that the only real obstacles in my way in terms of trying something new is myself, and the expectations and fears I give to myself. When dealing with those feelings, what usually helps me best is a "10,000 foot view." A separate perspective to help clear my conscious. Just telling myself that phrase can help me refocus on the things at hand, and given me the confidence and determination I need within the moment. Obviously this idea will not work for problems where the issues facing you greatly outweigh the social and environmental obstacles in play. But I feel that, it times of fear of the uncertainty, it is very beneficial to evaluate where your fears truly come from. Then, you can decide whether you are holding yourself back, and what you want to do knowing that. Hopefully, at least one person can overcome their self-originating fears and try something new or take a worrying risk. Regardless of whether or not you fail, the most important part is that you took that first step towards future successes.

Competition is another area in which this saying has benefited me. Really, in any position where there is a limited number of titles or awards compared to the people after them, this saying can be useful. I have heard from various people that they have at times felt bad because they are after something that they feel like, if they get it, they would be getting something that somebody else deserves more. While I understand that those feeling of guilt are hard to stop, those feeling can also lead to self depreciation, and I think it is important to remind yourself that you are worthy of what you are after. The winner of a title or reward is not just determined by who strictly put in the most effort or who has the most merit. There are a number of factors in deciding these things and it is important not to sell yourself short or diminish your own personal qualities. Even if you do win, that just shows that your traits were the most important thing for the task, and that the other people's traits were not. Competing in anything you care about can be stressful and I think that making sure you have a positive mindset, whether you win or lose, is very helpful in dealing with future events where your skills and talents are tested. So whenever a new chance opens up for you, just remember, "If it's open it's open."