Student Advice: Don't Be a Victim

In the media, and in my personal experiences, I find few are willing to do the hard work to make life better for themselves; we look for easy ways out and want someone else to do the work for us; we never want to try to figure life out for ourselves. I feel like we’ve been babied throughout our lives, and we never had the chance to experience real struggle. Not to mention, the educational system doesn’t always prepare us for the real world. We are forced to grow up in a matter of months after high school, and many young people can’t handle it.

I don’t always agree with my parents’ generation, but one thing I admire is that they understand struggle; life was not always easy. They had to work hard and provide so much. There wasn’t time to wallow every time something went wrong. They expressed their feelings, collected themselves, and moved forward.

I believe the time of entering adulthood is the time that separates the weak from the strong. It shows who is serious about making the most of their lives. There are going to be tons of disappointments in life, and it’s up to you to find ways through the obstacles life presents. Don’t rely 100% on anyone else to make your problems go away—it’s not fair to them, and you’re not doing yourself any favors by letting others fight your battles. If you want success, work for it. If you say it’s too hard, I guess you didn’t want it that bad.

There have been plenty of times when I have had setbacks that have kept me from reaching my goals, but I refuse to let anything discourage me. I’m going through hard times as I write this, but I still wake up every day and put on a smile because I know in the end it’ll be worth the struggles. It’s definitely okay to cry to your family and friends because that’s what they’re there for; however, don’t languish in sadness for too long—you don’t want to become a victim! Learn from disappointments and continue to grow as an individual. The worst thing you can do is give up.

I believe that things do happen for a reason, but I also believe that sometimes things just happen. We must learn how to deal with it, accept it, and continue living our best lives.