Junior Mia Marjorie Montes often recalls situations in which she feels regret. This regret is felt from times she wishes she had trusted her gut and personal intuition.
“Always, always, always, trust your gut. Do not listen to anybody that’s not understanding your gut,” said Marjorie. “Follow your intuition always, because there have been so many incidences where I did not follow my intuition and I listened to other people’s opinions on a situation I had, and I just didn’t listen to myself. Looking back, I just regret not listening to myself.”
One instance in Marjorie’s life where she feels she did not trust her gut was her decision to audition for LVA. Before her freshman year of high school, she had decided not to attend LVA despite being drawn to it and feeling her intuition telling her to audition. She wishes she had auditioned rather than give into self doubt and thoughts that she wouldn’t get in anyways. Nonetheless, she is at LVA now as a theater major, and she explained that if she had listened to her gut in the first place, she could have experienced her freshman year at this school, rather than Durango High School.
The environment at Durango compared to the switch over to LVA was a big difference for Marjorie.
“At Durango, I kind of just felt like, not necessarily an outcast, but I definitely felt different from my peers. I felt very different love life wise and grades wise. Then I came to LVA, and I found my group of people, and it was just very different.”
The people surrounding Marjorie at Durango High School created a more closed off environment for her. She felt out of place because of this. At LVA, however, she discovered many people more similar to her when it came to being outgoing and showcasing their personalities.
“It felt very freeing to have my personality on display, rather than just enclosing it and bottling it up in a way,” explained Marjorie.
The most important person in Marjorie’s life is herself. She has always been an independent person, and feels that she has never had truly specific close friendships that were constant throughout her life. In the past, she has had friends that were not very good to her. However, she feels that the more secure friendships she has now have been built by her own determination to find the right people to surround herself with.
When asked about why she sees herself as the most important person in her life, she answers, “I’ve been through a lot, and knowing that I’ve been through so much, and knowing that I’m probably gonna go through more, is making me build resilience in a way. I feel like a person shouldn’t be everything to you, but you should be everything to yourself.”
