In 2005, my worst fear (back then) came true: my family was moving. The idea seemed ludicrous at first. We had spent as long as I could remember in our sleepy little town. Not to mention, from every movie I had ever seen, moving as a child went one of two ways: either you become the popular new kid in your new school or the new outcast.
Neither of those things actually happened, because life is not like a movie (most of the time). Like any school, some kids were brilliant and other kids had terrible manners. I blended into the wallpaper. I completed assignments, made some friends, and spent the majority of my time in ice rinks writing papers and socializing with the people who I connected with more.
During those years, I turned to my long standing belief I had heard from pretty much everyone: if things are terrible, you have to work through it to get to the good.
The trying events didn’t stop in middle school. There were some scattered through high school, some of them sprinkled in during university, and there are still obstacles that find me now, as an adult.
Just as before, I always try to keep my head high and tell myself the same thing: if things seem terrible now, you have to keep going. If you stop, you forever remain where you are now: stuck, unchanging, and collecting dust like unloved books at the library.
It probably took me too long to come to really understand the lesson that was occurring in front of me so frequently all these years. So in case you are like me–oblivious and immune to the lessons of the world–here’s the lowdown on what I’ve been ranting about: obstacles and challenges will ALWAYS be there, even if you’re doing something as simple as trying to find a Laundromat on a Sunday afternoon.
It’s not cause the world hates you. It’s not because your arch nemesis decided to really screw with you and make sure all of the washers were in use that one day you wanted to go. I don’t mean for this to sound harsh but, hear me out: the world is not out to get you. When you really sit back and think about it, the world does not exist to please you, but it’s here to help you grow. It pushes your limits and shows you areas of improvement, as long as your ears and eyes are open to the lessons presented before you.
Through all these trials and tribulations, the world shows you that you need one little but big thing to get by in this world and accomplish all the goals you have for yourself: unwavering faith. Once you have some confidence in yourself and what you stand for, awesome! Go and get ’em, man! But don’t be like a car full of gas but lacking an engine. Don’t be all prepared but without will power. You need the engine. You need some motivation.
Maybe it’s everyone teasing you for failing, being a Debby downer, the way that swimsuit would look on you once you follow through on your gym plans, the feeling of relief you’ll have when you hold the finished product in your hands, or anything in between all that, it doesn’t matter what it is. What matters if that you find something. Even the smallest little twinge of motivation will multiply into something monstrous. And pro tip: the more you care about what you’re chasing, the more natural motivation you will find within yourself.
So here you go, a magical-not-so-magical little formula that should help you do just about anything your heart desires:
Unwavering Faith + Motivation = Success (most of the time)
I’m not saying if you do these two things, you’ll succeed every time. If you want to be an actor, you aren’t going to get your first gig at your very first audition. That’s just not how it works. Anyone who ever became someone great had to fail about a bagillion times before actually making it big, before getting to that point when they knew they had succeeded at their wildest dreams.
Sorry to tell you, but your failure count is going to be much higher than your success count, but you’re going to be thankful when you look back later. Trust me. Rest assured, just like the little warning labels on the sides of products in the store, you will have to fail, fall on your ass, and even question yourself many a times before you get to where you want to be. But doing all this will further ensure your last test before reaching your goal is something you can take on without a shadow of a doubt.
Even if you sit back and say “man, this chick is cah-ra-zay” and dismiss the somewhat cheesy and no brainer advice of an almost twenty-four year old woman, I challenge you to do at least one thing, just to see what happens. For one week, every time you feel disappointed or discouraged, write five to ten reasons why you can and will accomplish that task or that goal of yours, or what you will do to counteract these feelings or obstructions ahead of you. I guarantee that somewhere along the way, you’ll start to see your best friend unwavering faith, peeking out from the shadows, waiting for you to take its hand and step forward to the life you dream of.
