Surpassing My Ego by Kaden

Surpassing My Ego by Kaden - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my life, I've had to take in and learn from feedback plenty of times. However, one specific moment has stood out to me and still lingers in my mind to this day. During my sophomore year, I was a pretty arrogant kid. Every time someone tried to constructively criticize or give me advice, my ego just couldn't take it in. This did not change until my mom confronted me about this underlying issue. She said, "Not everyone is trying to badger you, they are just trying to help. You have to learn how to stop taking everything to heart." When she told this to me, I was speechless. For the first time, I didn't attempt to argue. I later thought to myself, maybe everyone wasn't trying to attack me, maybe I just think about it too deep. When people criticized me, I tended to display negative body language and facial expressions. My mom told me that once I am older, I would struggle getting and/or keeping jobs. After hearing this from my mother, I was very eager to see my next encounter of someone giving me criticism. I finally got to experience the "new" me in my 5th period English class. Our teacher gave us a peer review task, and we were reading over each other's essays. I realized that was the perfect chance to see if anything had changed. I got paired up with someone I didn't talk to much, which meant they would give me honest feedback. My partner began pointing out the mistakes and what I needed to change. I could feel myself gathering thoughts that the old me would've had, but I locked in. I was so proud of myself for being able to control that defensiveness that my mind is accustomed to; instead of replying to my peer's feedback saying "I don't think I need to do this", I replied saying, "Okay, I will take this into consideration." I realized that compared to trying to respond with an argument, just accepting that criticism, reflecting on it, and then making those changes was so much easier than I imagined. All the time I spent being so self-centered, imagining everyone was my enemy, I could've been improving so easily. Nowadays, I still sometimes feel that defensive mindset, but all I have to do to cancel that out is think of the powerful words that my mother told me. The people who are inclined to point out my mistakes are the ones who want to see me grow and succeed. Adapting to the mindset of listening to feedback assisted me in becoming a more open-minded person. I understood that when I become an adult, I will be in a workspace with people who have a variety of opinions and perspectives, so it is necessary to listen to what other people have to say to become a better version of myself. I was able to surpass the only thing that was holding me back, which was my ego.