Creator or Victim, it’s your choice

Playing the Creator role turned my life completely to a wonderful road that I have never imagined. That was the time I had a chance to go to America as an exchange student and joined the Work and Travel program. This is a program for students around the world to go to work in American for a short period of time and then use that money to travel. A friend of mine was playing Victim role in that situation and that’s how I got a clear sight of how different between the Creator response and the Victim response. My friend was so scared of the entire new things, challenges and changes that we would meet such as being far away from family and encountering a new culture and new language.


Being far away from friends, family and all the familiar things was the scariest to her. She thought that she would be so sad, homesick, and lonely. I, on the other hand, chose to think of it as a chance for me to learn how to take care of myself and to be independent for the first time in my life. How interesting to meet and make new friends from all over the world.


We were also aware of the new things we would have to adapt to in America. New culture was the first things that came up in our knowledge. I have heard of so many stories about people getting culture shock. They could not stand all the differences and gave up in the middle of the program. I knew that travelling to another country and adapting to a new culture requires an opened mind and an accepting attitude. Because of doing that, I have learned so many interesting things and realize just because someone has a different custom than us, doesn’t mean they are bad; it just means they believe in a different thing.


Language was the biggest challenge. We were so scared of speaking a completely different language than our mother tongue. We would feel lost; we would not understand much when people talked around us. It would be impossible to communicate with everyone, and it’s difficult when you cannot express yourself. But that was a challenge that I looked for when I entered this program. I wanted to practice my English, and there is no better way than to live in the environment. I took it as a challenge and faced with it rather than running away from it.


Finally, my friend was so frightened of the challenge, she stayed at home. I went to America with an opened mind and positive thinking to learn a whole new world. As a student, I’ve been in the Victim role many times, but that one time only, I chose a Creator role, and it changed my life in an incredible way. It’s your choice what role you want to play in your life, and it’s your choice where your mind will lead you. So why be a Victim, when you can be a Creator?