Getting acclimated to Washington D.C. has been a much harder task than what I originally anticipated. Living in this city has pushed me to think more intentionally about my actions and how I process my environment. I’ve always viewed myself as an adaptable person, someone who is excited for change or the aspect for something new; however, the first week in this new setting did not go as planned.

On my first day of my internship I woke up early, partly because of the early eastern coast sunrise, but mostly because I couldn’t wait to start this new chapter in my life. After completing our morning ritual, my roommates and I headed for the metro train and were ready to take on our jobs in the city. We eventually all split off throughout D.C. to our job sites. Unfortunately for me, the next step of my morning was not my internship. When I arrived at what I thought was my internship, I regrettably discovered that the company’s address had not been updated online. After quickly searching through emails from my supervisor, I found an address in a company signature, clicked it, and entrusted apple maps to get me to work. Once I was able to redirect myself, hopping back on the metro, transferring trains, and taking a long walk to this new location, I came to another unfortunate realization. Apple maps had directed me across town in the middle of rush hour, when in actuality the new location for my internship was only a couple blocks from my original location. Being flustered with emotion, I tried to keep myself calm as I completed the walk of shame to my initial destination, a process that made me an hour late on my first day. As I sat on the train, angry at my phone for deceiving me, but even more angry at myself for not planning more thoroughly in advance, I tried to keep calm by reminding myself that I would now have something interesting to write in my blog post.

After I arrived to my first day a full hour late, exhausted and embarrassed, I had to quickly learn how to adapt to my semi-corporate job. Luckily I work with very kind, and hard-driven individuals who have been willing to help me learn from my mistakes, making this painful moment a learning point for me.

It’s okay to mess things up. You can still hold yourself to a high standard and make mistakes. When reflecting on my past experiences, I weighed the significance of the times I felt like things have gone wrong. Although its cheesy, I really do believe that you learn the most from your mistakes. However, this depends on how you process these mishaps. Typically I would describe myself as someone who is pretty self-critical – I am constantly rethinking choices that I have made and how I would change them now. This is not a productive way to live life. As I enter the adult world, I’m beginning to realize the importance of maximizing your time. If I ever want to be a positive ally for others in society, then I need to cut out the wasted time worrying about the past. Being an hour late to the first day of my internship is a very small mistake in the grand scheme of things, but this situation made me reflect on a larger problem. The biggest mistake you can make is questioning yourself and your choices when something goes wrong. In this small moment it was important that I didn’t stress over my setback, but instead focused on making my internship the best experience possible. I only have one summer in D.C., and if I want to maximize my time here then I need to accept the past and prepare for the future.