Reflective Essay: My Choices Brought Me Here

I. My Choices Brought Me Here
Action is the end results of the choices we make. Over the course of my forty-eight months at the Naval Academy I have made some choices that led me to a position where I did not graduate on time. This paper will explore my decision making, critical thinking and other character components that have put me in this situation. My aptitude for commission is under review and the reasons for this are not just due to one incident but my overall record. My record conveys a litany of poor choices and conduct cases. These choices resulted in a bad impression to my company resulting in low company rankings all eight semesters. Initially, when I entered Plebe Summer I felt I was misunderstood and brushed aside other people’s …show more content…
Even when I attempted to change that, I allowed that impression to set in and people just assumed that was me. I often was resentful when I would apply for leadership positions and not receive them not realizing at the time that I was more unqualified than anyone. How could I hold a position if I did not have my life in order. My grades were substandard as well as my conduct. It wasn’t the system against me, it was my choices and my priorities that made me unqualified. Additionally, assessing my character I found that I am deficient in courage, critical thinking, and self-control. My choices are the reason I lack in those areas. Once a choice is made, the actions play out, and the consequence is delivered; I am required to live with those consequences. Those choices are the reason why I am not a commissioned officer right now. I failed to act in the way of which an Officer in the Armed Forces is expected to act. Officers are expected to strive for excellence in all things. Notably, I failed to strive for excellence when it came to my physical standards. I passed, but did not strive for excellence. This mindset leaked into other aspects of my Naval Academy career such as academics and moral development. Remarkably, the moral aspect exhibited my character …show more content…
In the past I went with the flow of life and failed to have the courage to listen to the inner voice. As stated above, my personal choices lead to personal consequences. The choices I have made guided me to this exceptional moment in my life; however, with changes and conscious reflections, I can be the person that I aspire to be. I control my own life, no one can make decisions for me, and the ultimate choice of how to live my life lies within myself. My next greatest deficiency is self-control. In the past I tended to speak my mind and have an opinionated mindset. I have learned that occasionally you have to say nothing and just listen. My inability to control my actions, thoughts, and having a disposition of indifference towards action has immensely impeded by development. Lastly, the crutch to all my deficiencies is my critical thinking. Over the past forty-eight months my critical thinking skills have been severely substandard to that of a Junior Officer in the Navy. Furthermore, I realize that my mentality of just getting to graduation was the wrong approach. My critical thinking should have been in the realm of developing into becoming the best officer possible vice just “getting the diploma”. Additionally, within my critical thinking, another detriment of my