Hi Peter, What are you up to these days? I wanted to let you know about an essay topic that I've been writing about: "What are you willing to give up to achieve your goals"? I did not have any idea about what to write when I first saw the topic. To be honest, I haven't given it much thought, but I know that I should. They say that if you want to achieve a goal, you should be willing to give up or sacrifice something, because your success is worth it. Now that I think about it, I've already experienced the joy of achieving a couple of my goals, once I was willing to give up something. If I am keen on something, I do my best and work on it until I've achieved my goal. If I wasn't who I am, I might not have graduated from university. University was difficult, but thanks to my motivation, I was able to graduate. You're probably wondering what it was I gave up, aren't you? Well, I stopped going to pubs and nightclubs. I was always learning, even during the semester when others were just having fun being students. But I didn't mind! It was the most important thing I had ever wanted to achieve. I wanted to get a master's degree and then to have greater possibilities in finding a good job. While on my long journey of getting my master's degree, I felt stressed out many times. I hate failure, just like any one else. When I did not pass some of my exams, I was deeply hurt. Thinking over it now, studying at university wasn't so very enjoyable, but my main point is - if you want to achieve something, it should be enjoyable, otherwise you will find it takes more effort than you are keen on. Lately, I've been keen on learning languages. I've given up my free time, my hobbies - going to the gym, for example - and spending every waking moment learning English. I really wish to master English. This is the most important thing that I've ever experienced thus far in my life. I wish I could really let you know how seriously passionate I am about this. I am trying to do my best, but mastering it is extremely difficult. It takes a long time to become fluent in both speaking and writing. The more I learn, the more I realise that there are still a lot of things I don't know. But I won't give up, because I fancy it and I am able to give up almost everything to achieve this goal, my dream. In my country, you only need to speak one language, at least - sure the more the better. It can seem like I've been giving up my free time and so on, but I don't feel that way at all. Can you imagine the possibilities I will have when I've mastered English? You have no idea, mate. So do you see the point that I have been making? If you really want to achieve something, it is usually something that will influence your future, isn't it? My question to you is, is it really "giving up something"? Maybe so, but it is giving up something in order to achieve something else which can be so much better than the thing that you are giving up. Basically, we should all be thinking about those things that we are willing to sacrifice in order to achieve our goals. I would love to know your opinions on this, and I hope that I have inspired you to think about this as well. I know that you always have interesting ideas about everything we talk about!
Best regards, Jarda
