Working for What's Worth it.

Editor's Note: This entry may be a little longer than anticipated. Thank you for sticking to the end.

"There comes a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till..."

                                                                  --Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

 The first time I read this passage was junior year of high school. I fell in love because I was the biggest individual I knew; however this entry is not about being an individual, that's for another day.

Emerson wrote that no kernel of nourishing corn can come to man but through his toil. This directly correlates with my work ethic.

 For the most part of my life my Mom stated every time that she stayed home from work that she wish she didn't have to work. Swiftly proceeding that comment, she'd return to reality and say that she didn't want her attitude on work to effect how I see working. I respect both of my parents immensely for sticking to it even if work is not preferable. They raised me to work for everything I have.

I always was that "Straight A" student-- that is until I came to college. I found my motivation dwindling for my schooling. Classes didn't excite me, I just sat there in a lecture hall of people as if I was just someone else.

I refuse to be just someone else. My finals crept up on me so fast, I take my first one on Monday.  I have yet to study for the ONLY 2 exams I have. If I fail these two finals, disgust will overwhelm me. It hit me in my Psychology 100 class that I can't just sit here and do nothing. If succeeding (in an extraordinary way at that) is my goal, I need to toil my own till that was given to me: my life. Without drive and motivation, happiness will never follow.

For this revelation, I thank you Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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Constantly motivating myself with the little things: Story of my life.

(This one's for you Evan.)