What is important to me? Akshat Iyer

What is Important to Me?

I don't know what to write about. There are just way too many thoughts floating around in my head. If I try to only focus on one of these things, my brain will explode. This is why I would like a more confined topic, however, I suppose that what I am about to do now will suffice. This is going to highlight the evolution of me. This blog is going to talk about how I became who I am today. People will talk about the 1 thing, the 1 aspect of their lives that they cherish. I am incapable of doing that. Now that I have explained that, we can start the build-up to who I am today and the importance that everything brings me.

**BEFORE ANY OF YOU COMMENT ABOUT THIS OR SAY IT TO MY FACE, I WILL LET YOU KNOW THAT THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG IS NOT TO BE NARCISSISTIC, IT IS MEANT FOR HIGHLIGHTING THE EVENTS IN MY LIFE THAT MAKE ME ME**

Infancy (0 - 5)

I didn't really have much going for me for the first two years of my life, as I was still trying to develop the ability to speak. I was taught Hindi and English at a young age, however, I lost the ability to speak Hindi after I started going to school, which is unfortunate. By the age of three, my mom started teaching me math, which started my educational career, however, the more important thing that started in my life was my music. Music is one of the few things that I am talented in, and because of that talent, I hold music in high regard as one of the things most important to me. I started playing the piano when I was three, and I had the ability to figure out what notes to play and when to play them with whatever song I wanted to play (another moment of foreshadowing). Through this, my parents realized that I had a gift, and I had a private instructor attempt to teach me piano. This attempt failed, however, as I was not a fan of this private instructor, as she expected me to also know what letters were and how to name notes, both of which were way out of my league at that age. So I continued playing music by ear, and I still have the ability to do so today. Making friends wasn't really on my radar at that time, as I didn't really think that I would make any. I tried to be social at first, however, those attempts were futile and they normally led to me being too loud and getting in trouble by the teacher (Which is still a problem today, however, most of my teachers have accepted that there is no way that they can change me). I thought I did make one friend, however, he also tried to keep on one-upping me in everything that I did, making me feel inferior. This is a dumb example, but when I turned 5, I was so excited and I bragged to him that I turned 5, and he goes, "I'm 5 and 4 quarters." I was like, Whoa, 5 and 4 are two very big numbers. I think one thing that did make me somewhat socially awkward was the fact that I still had an Indian accent when I went to pre-school and kindergarten, which made me a little hard to comprehend. However, mid-way through my kindergarten, I moved to Sparta, because my parents had just bought a house there. Best. Move. Ever. Their schools were so much nicer, the people there were more sociable, and I felt like I fit in. I made a lot of friends in Sparta, and I was very happy that I actually got to know people. I met my best friend in Kindergarten, and even though we didn't talk, I still got to learn so much about him. The Sparta move concludes the infancy portion of this timeline, and so far, a lot of topics were knocked out. I found my love for music, I found amazing friends, and I loved my family.

Elementary School (6 - 11)

Nothing much really happened in Elementary school, except for the creation of new bonds and friendships. However, one thing that was major in Elementary school was the option of choosing an instrument in 4th grade. This was one of the best things that happened to me, as I dropped piano and I started "maining" violin. I still play piano, though playing violin just gave me more joy than hitting notes on a keyboard. The rest of Elementary school was spent honing these talents that I realized that I had in my infancy stage. I grasped the concept of mathematics and music very easily, and I was making more and more friends as I continued with school, which would then carry on into middle school, and one of the focal parts of my life.

Middle School (11 - 13)

Ah, yes. These years. The years that I first didn't know what studying was, and then realized that I have to actually try in order to do well. These years were known as middle school. I was starting the transition to becoming a teenager, and it was a crazy ride. The one thing that I did pick up in these years that would be very important to me, however, was chess. Chess is one of those games where it doesn't matter when you start because you can still get very good at the game if you put in the time. My brothers started playing chess when I was in 6th grade, and I was amazed that they could sit in a room for an hour just playing this game over a simple board with 32 pieces. Halfway through 7th grade, their chess advisor asked me if I wanted to join their club. I was a little bit undecided at first, however, when I went to one of their meetings, I fell in love with the game. I grasped the concept of attacking and defending with everything that you have, and I quickly climbed the ranks of the school to become captain, which is where I still remain today. I began to play for money, and recently, I won $150 for winning 1st place in my section at an International Chess Academy tournament. The beginning of my chess career started in this period of my life, and I am so happy that I am currently still playing this game.

High School (14 - Now)

High school was the start of something new. A world that I was not introduced to prior to these years. That world was the world inside an Integrated Development Environment. Coding class is giving me the stepping stones needed to do what I wanted to do in life: become a software developer for a major company such as Google or Microsoft. I loved the class, and I still love it. Coding class is the class that I look forward to daily, and while I am in that class, I can just let loose and project all of my ideas into a bunch of conditional statements and methods. High school is also where everything just clicked. Before this, I didn't consider myself a good writer. Sure, I was decent, I got into Honors English in 9th grade, however, my writing still felt weak. That all changed when I went into 10th grade. I just realized that I was doing everything wrong, and now my writing feels much more improved (My teachers may think otherwise, however, this is only my opinion and I do feel like I can write a lot better than I used to). The concept of chess also finally clicked for me. I found out what I was doing wrong, and the reason that I was hovering around the same ranking the entire time, and I completely revised my incompetent playstyle into something that has won me many games. High school has also given me the concept of setting goals for myself. The number of times I have berated myself because my GPA wasn't equal to or above a 4.5 at a given time might seem crazy to some people, however, that's just how I operate. I need to set high standards for myself so I can push myself to my fullest potential.

What is important to me now?

-Music
-Chess
-School
-Friends
And for those of you who are saying, "What about your family, you sick child?" I say that I do love my family, and I do hold them of high importance. I just assumed that whoever is reading this post knows that I love them, however, for some people, loving their family isn't taken for granted. There are some people out there in the world who do not love their family, and so I do appreciate the fact that I do have an emotional attachment to them. Them being there for me through every step of the way has really changed me for the better, therefore I hold them of the highest importance, and revere them as amazing people.

All of these things have made me who I am today, and I am very happy about having them. Without these things, I might not be the person I am today.