<p>Okay, this is my Common App essay (a bit cliched I guess)</p>
<p>Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, or risk that you have taken and its
impact on you.</p>
<p>I had never backed away from standing by my decisions, but that conviction was being tested now. I was scared. Only, this time, I had asked for it. My friend moved closer, and placed it on my trembling palm.</p>
<p>My skin crawled as it started to climb across to my thumb.</p>
<p>All reason threatened to break loose. I wanted to throw it as far as I could, and run in the opposite direction. But I forced myself to stand and look. It helped to focus on the details and not the large picture. I reminded myself that I was made of sterner stuff than it could dissolve.</p>
<p>It was emerald green, with stripes of almond, moving in inverted Us, leaving a trail of slime where it had been. As the seconds passed, I started breathing easier, realizing that it was harmless.</p>
<p>I had been scared of insects as long as I could remember. Today I had decided to confront my fear.</p>
<p>As my fear started melting away, a rush of pride took its place. I had done it! But I wasnt entirely satisfied. I picked up the caterpillar gingerly and placed it back on the tree. That was it. The last vestiges of my fear disappeared. Its crippling weight was off me.</p>
<p>I had an important epiphany that day, one that I couldnt put into words then. Years later, I found its expression in Roosevelts quote There is nothing to fear but fear itself. And I realized that fear itself can be driven away by a simple confrontation.</p>
<p>After that incident, I have grabbed every opportunity to confront all the fears that have emerged over the years, making them disappear, one by one.</p>
<p>Im not scared of the idea of fear anymore.</p>
<p>This realization strengthened me as a person, and has been a steady guide through the years, for there is always something we fear. Something we need to get over to prove ourselves. The fact that I could overcome my fears made me believe I can overcome any other obstacle.</p>
<p>Today I have come a long way from my entomophobia. I delight in macro photography, which entails sneaking to within an inch of the object. I have some beautiful close-ups of dragonflies, bees, grasshoppers, and yes, caterpillars. Oh look! There is a bee on the window sill. I pick up my Nikon and flick the setting to vivid to better highlight the delicacy of the pale yellow wing membranes and the metallic red limbs. The shots are stunning.</p>
<p>How delightful it is to observe the unique structures and colours that embellish these tiny creatures!
I find it unbelievable now that I ever found them disgusting and scary.</p>
<p>Picking up a caterpillar might seem like an insignificant action. But to me, it was an important step that let my weakness- my fear- metamorphose into the strength of my conviction that I will prevail over all my obstacles and emerge ever stronger.</p>
<p>And, this was my Princeton supplement-</p>
<p>Open your mind, Eragon. Open your mind and listen to the world around you, to the thoughts of every being in the glade, from the ants in the trees to the worms in the ground. Listen until you can hear them all and understand their purpose and nature. Listen, and when you hear no more, come tell me what you have learned.</p>
<p>At first, the influx of thoughts was deafening. There were images and feelings clamouring for attention. After about a minute, they subsided into a calmer mixture, with a few spiking thoughts. I tried to think of nothing, by concentrating on an image of a void. But some thoughts always slipped through.</p>
<p>Eventually I conceded and focused on observing the train of thoughts. For example, the thought of the itch above my elbow automatically triggered - Stay still! That led to How much longer? This led to Im hungry and then to Really hope its pasta for lunch! and so on.</p>
<p>This observation led to a rather interesting insight that our mind may be nothing but a collection of multi-dimensional thought streams linked to each other. Individuals differ in the type of links, which explains disparate thoughts and thereby actions, in response to the same stimulus.</p>
<p>When I opened my eyes, it seemed like I had been released from a warm, dark room into a bright busy street. Somehow, I remembered my last visit to the crowded CST station in South Bombay, barely a month after the terrorist attacks on November 26, 2009. I wondered how young boys could be brainwashed into murdering and maiming innocents without any conscience. I realized that the key to their behaviour and actions lay in their thoughts. If only they could learn to distinguish between constructive and destructive thoughts and actions, and shape positive thoughts leading to productive activities.</p>
<p>I started applying the epiphany in my own life exposing myself to new knowledge, unearthing new thoughts and capabilities. No day went without exploring Wikipedia articles; these ranged from psychological theories to mathematical postulates to geological concepts to biographies of painters, writers, philosophers and revolutionaries. I read about ambidexterity and practised writing with my left hand to proficiency, then took up writing laterally in cursive, and now am working on drawing and writing simultaneously with both hands. [Ambidexterity apparently expands the mind both logically and creatively.] I learnt about lucid dreams and am trying to induce them regularly. I also tried to parallel-read several books. Right now they are A Beautiful Mind, Inheritance, Incognito and Posthumous Pieces.</p>
<p>Today, thanks to that transcendental experience, I approach the world and life, and every situation that it offers, with curiosity and eagerness, no matter how beautiful or crazy or depressing. I know that I can learn something new from every experience, and use it to better the way I lead my life. Now, if only I could spread this kind of learning throughout the world!</p>
It was fun!</p>