 If I can go back and change one choice that I made in my lifetime that I wish I had thought about differently and approached it differently knowing what I know now, it would be how I based my decision to go to college and where I decided to apply. You are more important than a piece of paper degree. You are more important and more special than what that deepest, darkest negative voice inside of your brain is saying to you now. I wish I had someone who told me this when I was in high school and maybe my journey to self-love and self-realization could have started earlier than it did. Hi guys! This is Linda from Brain Education TV. If this is your first time, welcome! Consider subscribing by clicking the link down below, like our videos, and make sure to click the bell for notifications of each new episode. Today in this video, I want to talk about a topic that's been on my mind lately. If you could rewind the hands of time, can you think of one decision, one choice that you made that changed your life path, that knowing what you know now, you would choose something differently? If there is, what is it? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear. Maybe some of you have many choices where you feel like knowing what I know now, I would totally choose something else. But out of all of those things, if you could pick one, what would that be? For me, it's the story of how I based my decision to go to college. I went to the University of California in San Diego, I studied theater arts, and I really had a great time in college. I made lots of great friends, had great memories, and I really enjoyed my time there. When I look back on my life and what I used to determine my choice of going there, there's one thing that I really regret, and knowing what I know now, I would do differently. I grew up in a very strict Asian household where academics was everything, and brand name for colleges was everything. It was either like you go to Ivy League, or you go to like UC Berkeley, UCLA, like all these brand name schools, and that determined the value of you as a human being. If I went to a good school, I was a good daughter, I was a good sister, I was a model person, I was accepted by my family, I was accepted by society, and that was what I was told to live by. So the one thing that really determined where I applied to school and chose to go to school was based on name value and the ranking. If it was on the US News Report, top 100 universities, I applied to like a few of the top universities that I felt like sounded cool, would make me look cool, would make my parents proud, would make my friends proud, that's the thing that I based my whole four years of life on. So I applied to these schools, I got waitlisted in some, I got rejected by some, I got accepted by some, and ultimately I made the decision to go to UC San Diego. And this is not to say that I regret going to San Diego at all because in the end, it turned out to be the perfect place. I loved it there. I absolutely loved San Diego and it was amazing. But if I could rewind the hands of time and apply to school in a different way, the thing that I would change is instead of applying for the ranking, I would apply based on what city I wanted to live in. Because if you think about it, the next four years of your life in college, that town, that city, that place is what will really shape you as a human being. I'm a big believer that your environment plays a big factor in creating you as a human being. If you grow up in the United States, for example, you're going to turn out very differently from someone who grows up in Italy, someone who grows up in Korea, someone who grows up in Ethiopia, all these people have different personalities and cultures and experiences because of the location of where they were raised. And I think that even though four years is a very short time, it's no different. College is a great time for you to experiment, for you to get to know the world, get to know yourself, get to know what values you have and really establish your identity as an adult. And I think that the town, the place, the city, the people, the vibe, the energy that you immerse yourself in for the next four years will really shape and change you. I think what's more important is that college experience of exploring and figuring yourself out as a human being in those four years that are more valuable than any kind of piece of paper or diploma or name that's attached to you. If I can tell you a secret, my college diploma is sitting in a plastic bag underneath my bed. So my point in saying this is I really regret that I focused my entire value and me, my worth as a human being based on a name brand of a school. When I thought that my whole self-worth, my self-value, my ability to receive love and experience life to the fullest was based on this US World News Report ranking of the different schools. I said, if you go to a top school then you're good, if you go to a bottom school you're bad. I fed into that, I drank that kool-aid and I think a lot of people are in that position where I was once in too. So for people who are like me, who are growing up in a very strict household, who feel like they have no self-confidence and the only kind of self-confidence that you can feel is by pushing yourself really hard and being mean to yourself and overworking yourself to go to a good school for a brand name college. What's more important than that is that you really feel self-love and that you treat yourself with respect and you go somewhere that you feel will foster your growth as a human being. Because even if you do go to that good school and let's say that society does accept you and say, oh you're so great, if you at the end of the day feel bad about yourself and if you come home at night feeling no self-worth, no confidence and regret for any decision that you made then what's the point? So all this is to say is that if I can go back and change one choice that I made in my lifetime that I wish I had thought about differently and approached it differently knowing what I know now it would be how I based my decision to go to college and where I decided to apply because it was totally based on a superficial ranking system that does not determine me as a human being at all at the end of the day now looking back knowing what I know now where I went to school did not determine what job I was going to get it didn't determine the person I was going to become it didn't determine anything at all except for the environment that really shaped me the people I met and the experiences that I had while I was there. So for those of you who are watching this video I'm curious do you have one thing that you can pinpoint in your life that you said I wish I had made a different choice because now I know something that I didn't know back then do you have something like that please let me know in the comments I'd love to hear your own experiences thanks for tuning into this video for everyone who is applying to school and looking to go to college I wish you luck and please know please remember that your value as a human being your self-worth and self-confidence is never ever determined by some superficial brand label of what school you graduated from what's more important is that everything you do every choice you make every action every decision every thought is based on your self-love self-respect self-confidence because you are more important than a piece of paper degree you are more important and more special than what that deepest darkest negative voice inside of your brain is saying to you now I wish I had someone who told me this when I was in high school and maybe my journey to self-love and self-realization could have started earlier than it did I hope that this video what I have to say here what I'm sharing here can help someone who is in a situation that I was once in when I was also applying to school thanks for tuning in everyone see you in another video bye