College Supplemental Essay

Influenced by my father, who maintains almost everything neat and clean, I became a neat and tidy that other people might be envious of. For a long period of time, I would feel satisfied with watching my personal belongings organized and kept tidy. The more I tried to stick to such a seemingly desirable habit; the more I felt a sense of achievement and pride.

It was not until I met a friend who sincerely shared his feelings about my tidiness that I found out that I kept unconsciously imposing myself upon people around me. Through this, I not only realized the importance of my preference, but I also became aware of the significance of my companionship. At first, I tried to pretend to be a different person in order to simply make others feel comfortable around me by not interfering with their preferences. As I spent more time with people with various traits and observed them, an epiphany occurred to me that even in an apparent disorder, I could obtain pleasure and a sense of assimilation more than I could when alone.

As I saw people around me smiling brightly, I was able to embrace the personal traits and differences of others and further broaden my efforts to understand them better by empathizing with them. Consequently, I utilized my own preferences in a more amicable way.