Wal-Mart changed my life

By tori bowden

 I never thought Wal-Mart would change anything more than the color of my toothbrush. I definitely never thought Wal-Mart would change my outlook on life. 
           
 I was just there for a few things- shampoo, batteries, the usual. I cut through the home décor section to get to the cash registers and almost kicked something across the aisle. A beaten up purple plaque lay under my foot. I picked it up to replace it on the shelf and saw the dusty white letter on the front reading, “Don’t ever change yourself, improve yourself.”

 Whoa. I had never thought of it that way. It seems like everyone today is constantly looking for a way to change. Change their clothes, change their hair color, change their friends. But is all this really necessary?

 It makes perfect sense to me. If you must change yourself, better yourself. Don’t change your hair color back to blonde for the seventh time just because that girl in the magazine did.

 The things worth improving yourself for should be the closest things in our lives- family, friends, school, work, or whatever is important to you. Trust me, I know. I learned the hard way. The past year or so, I’ve done a lot of changing. I’m not nearly the same person I was last May. But I often wonder, am I a better person now?

 Of course I’d like to say yes, but I don’t think that’s the case. My grades dropped, I didn’t go to all my dance classes, and I lost all motivation to do anything productive. All I wanted to do all day was sit on the computer. If my sixth grade self saw me like that, she’d have a serious talk with me.

 I changed because I wanted certain people to like me. I’m not saying that those people are bad, but what I didn’t realize is that my friends already liked me for what I was. And for awhile, I didn’t even know me.

 After that day in Wal-Mart a few months ago, I did a lot of thinking. I started pulling my grades up, going to all my dance classes, and I actually did chores at home. It’s a little late to pass my sophomore year with flying colors, but I will be passing. And right now, that’s an accomplishment. I don’t intend to repeat this little mishap next year.

 I learned a good lesson from all this that will help me the rest of my life.
I’m no longer making changes; I’m making improvements.