Eighteen years of life later and my mind has matured enough to ask the question, “Was it worth it and is it still worth it now?” Religion hasn’t always been a huge part of my life, but it’s always been part of my life. Up until high school, I was surrounded by people of all ages, young and old, who believed in the same religion as I had grown up with. I wasn’t close-minded, but that was the only thing I knew. My mother put me in a small Catholic private school in kindergarten and that was the start of it all. My mother never practiced any religion consistently throughout her life like she gave me the chance of doing, but she thought that putting me in a Catholic elementary school would be best for me to grow up in so I’d have a set of good “core values” that the religion was set upon instilling.

I am in no way bashing the lifestyle or way of thinking of Catholics. I spent 13 years of my life surrounded by passionate people who believed in something so different and unique. A majority of the time, the first thing that people assume about Catholics is that they can be close-minded towards other religions – that they believe in one thing and one thing only, nothing else. And a majority of the time, people are wrong. Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world – most of the followers are just very passionate about what they believe in and want others to hear them out.

I may not be one of the strong believers, but I guess you could say I am a stronger understander. Growing up Catholic is one of the many things that sculpted the type of person I am to this day. And to this day, I like to think I have a pretty good set of values that make me the type of person that always wants to keep learning.

Freshman year of high school was the time I started to acquire knowledge of different religions. I was surrounded by mostly Catholics, because it was a Catholic high school, let me remind you, but there were a few students who believed in different religions. There was also a time when I got myself stuck in a religious rut where I had an epiphany-type situation. It was then that I realized that what I believed wasn’t doing what it was doing to others — making me a stronger and more passionate individual. Knowing that there was more out there than just the Catholic religion, I was curious as to what it was that I hadn’t learned yet. Junior year of high school, I took a class called Comparative Cultures where we placed focus on how the world sees different types of religions and how they actually are. I had always been intrigued by other religions, but this class only made my interest stronger.

It’s a given that as you grow older, you start to question more things and you start becoming more observant of your surroundings. Growing up Catholic gave me the initiative to start questioning my beliefs and explore my unknown possibilities. Was the 13 years of intense education from a Catholic school worth it? My answer is yes. Without it, I would have never learned that questioning things is for the best.

It has given me a more intricate way of processing what I see in my everyday life. I have become used to actually questioning things I don’t understand or speaking out about things I might think differently of. Ever since then, I have never felt more consistently content. Living with an open mind has given me so many opportunities I could have never had if I didn’t expand my interests. The best general advice to take into consideration is to become as open-minded as you possibly can. Being open-minded is beneficial to not only yourself, but also to the people around you — so it’s a win-win situation. Continuing my journey into college, I have still yet to find what beliefs I am the most passionate about. As long as I keep my mind receptive to all of the world’s possibilities, they will come to me sooner or later.