Post-Grad Pep Talk: A Lesson on Patience

If there’s one thing I learned from the LSAT, it’s the temporal fallacy— the flaw to believe an argument based on something that has yet to happen; an argument based solely on futuristic pretenses. 

With that said, I have a small confession: for years, I had been a big advocate for the future: “The future! YEAH! Forget the present, it’s the future that matters guys.”  Well, after two years of soul searching, mixed in with graduation and the bits of (post grad) doubt that plague a girl’s mind every so often, I’ve thrown that one-dimensional way of thinking into the trash and embraced something more realistic: “Yeah, hope for the future, but dude, totally live in the present.”

For someone who’s worked towards her “dream career” for a little over a year (not four years, like most— er, well, the critical thinking capacity of bio and the writing abilities of journalism do add cushion to the foreground…but still. Jealous. Wish I could’ve utilized all four years), I’ve had to push a little harder to gain that same level of logical mentality. Fortunately, I’ve learned that if you really, passionately want something, you must do everything, and anything, to get to that ideal.  And that’s the real test of passion, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter if you take the path least traveled, or do things that wouldn’t normally qualify as “field experience” (conformity, people)— instead it’s something you love to do, and you find some, creative way to incorporate it into your dream— that’s what matters, and that’s what makes you different from everyone else wanting to do what you hope to do: individuality. Trust. If you want something bad enough, you’ll make it happen. 

The biggest mistake we can make is putting on the blinders of positivity and letting “maybe” cloud the path it takes to get there. Expect people to challenge your confidence and attack your beliefs; expect the world to doubt you, to boggle you down; expect disappointment, rejection, mistakes, and, the worst, self-condemnation.  Sure, things will be hard, pessimism will be met, but the victory you’ll feel at the end of it— that future you’ve truly worked for— will taste all the more sweeter. Thanks, LitJourn Professors for instilling that principle. 

I hate obstacles, but they truly are our friends in the long run, aren’t they? And without them, who’s to say you deserve to be where you end up? Sure, some are lucky, but the rest of us…well. There’s a reason why we’ve coined the phrase, “hard work pays off.” Patience, drive, and dedication get you places. So no, I won’t be some personified flaw who counts their eggs before they hatch. Work hard, row the boat.  Then when you can smell the fresh sand and gorgeous greenery, then, my friends, that’s when you can lift your head and point at the future you see beyond the horizon. (High five for that two idiom win!)