Devils in Depth: Advice to your past self
“Devils in Depth” is a project that gets down to earth and captures the diversity of Arizona State’s student population. We engage in conversations with students in an effort to learn more about their passions and get a feel for who they really are. Then we ask them their thoughts on a central theme. This week’s theme is centered on advice to your past self.
Jacob
“I think initially I was afraid of coming out here because all my friends, I was raised in California, so all my friends go to UC schools, which I kind of feel left out but honestly coming here it wasn’t that bad of a decision, it’s a really inclusive community, it’s only six hours away from California and I actually see some people I knew from high school from California here in Arizona. So don’t be afraid of trying new things, I guess.”
“I wouldn’t change anything at all actually.. It’s been going pretty well and I enjoyed it so far.”
Christina
“Just breathe, take it easy. Unless you are in something like the medical field. Especially for people in business, we’re not saving babies — if you make a mistake it’s not a big deal. That’s something I’m still trying to work on everyday, so maybe if I heard it when I was 18 I would have believed it a little bit more.”
“There’s more to life than money, grades and all that kind of stuff. So just take a few minutes and do that self-care. That’s definitely a big thing, I wish I knew it then and I definitely try now. Just take care of yourself, don’t lose yourself in grades, class and everything like that.”
Hrag
“You don’t have to react to everything. There’s a lot of things that are going to happen and a lot of people are going to say things to you or do things to you to see how you react. I’ll make the analogy to basketball — if somebody pushes me on the court, am I going to react every single time? Is it going to show that I am mentally strong enough or am I going to let it get to me? In life that’s going to happen, people are going to say things to you to test you and to challenge you to see what you’re truly made of.”
“I feel like I could’ve done more in terms of networking people, not just me…introducing my friends to other people because when you get older in life, everything is about who you know really. Networking people is one of the best ways to help your own brand and help others.”
Athena
“It’s weird because a lot of people think of achievements as numbers they have gained or an award, but I think my proudest one is learning to make friends coming here, because even though I’m from in-state it was a new environment. I didn’t know that many people coming in so you don’t really think about it, but going back to kindergarten days when you tried to make friends in the playground, when you go through middle school and high school with the same group of friends you don’t really have to think about how to make new friends.”
“The biggest advice I would give is to not let hurdles or failures set you back and to rather use them to propel you forward.”
Adin
“I would say [to a younger version of myself] ‘Partition your time better.’ Have fun, but also work at the same time. I would look ahead to the major maps and some of the professors too, see what’s going on.”
“I think I was a little nervous, but mostly excited [entering ASU] about being able to learn all this cool stuff about engineering.”
