Hey hey hey!
My name is Alyssa Bretan and I am an AC'19 from Shelton, Connecticut. I am currently a second-year political science major on the pre-law track. This year, I am serving as Vice President of Membership Experience, but I have previously been a member of the Ritual, Sisterhood, and New Member Experience committees. Beyond ADPi, I am involved in the Florida Cicerones where I serve as the Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow Public Relations Committee Chair. I also am an Assistant Director for Florida Blue Key’s Miss UF Pageant as well as for the First-Year Experience Cabinet of Student Government. In addition, I am serving as an Assistant Director of Public Relations for IGNITE UF and a Beauty Assistant for Strike Magazine. I have always said that I can attribute Alpha Delta Pi as one of the reasons I have had so many wonderful opportunities and resources at the University of Florida and I will be forever grateful for this chapter’s endless support and function as my home away from home.
Despite being a Political Science major, some of my favorite classes I have taken at UF have been professional development and leadership courses. I am someone who measures their self-worth by their accomplishments which have been great in that it has always pushed me towards greatness, but it also leaves me feeling like there is so much more to do. I mention this because I think this mindset and the persona that has been built from it has reflected to the world that I am a confident person. When I first realized this, I laughed to myself because I knew how far from the truth that really was, and also I secretly loved the idea of what people expected me to be.
I am definitely my own worst critic and just because I am not critical of myself out loud does not mean I do not do it in private. I think confidence is finally realizing that life and life’s perceptions are very hard to control. As someone who constantly needs/seeks to control everything, this was a difficult concept to understand and I still have to work at it every day. I had to realize that it did not matter if other people thought I was assertive, loud, or too bold for their liking. Those qualities that I did not even like in myself were the exact things that were making people perceive me as confident because I owned them. The good, the bad, the ugly, the pretty. I just owned it because the only person you can be in this world is yourself. It is a cheesy sentiment, but it is so true. Confidence to me is the acceptance that perfection does not exist. If you take away anything, please remember this because people can waste their lives trying to achieve the impossible idea of perfection and I know because from time to time I am that person, too.
When you know who you are, there is no need to question it. Being aware of who I am has manifested into so many aspects of my life. I wore the outfits I wanted to, put on the makeup I wanted to, said the things I wanted to, and little by little people took notice. You hear people say, “Oh I wish I had your confidence” or they laugh because you just said something that “only you could say,” but inside that girl is just trying to do the best she can to be real and leave the world a little better than she found it. When you are confident, you can pull off just about anything. Confidence has no competition or start and endpoint. It dares you to be authentic, kind, and to realize your own potential. Alpha Delta Pi has helped me grow as an individual, a leader, and a friend. These women are here to watch you transform into the best version of yourself - a confident version of yourself. So let them! I dare you to just be you and try to love a little more of that person each day.
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