I don't know where it comes from, what exactly it is that drives me, where the fire in my belly derives. Maybe it's learning from the success of my doctor father or the inheritance of my mother's strength and stubbornness; maybe it's the astrology of being a Leo, a fire sign and one of the four fixed signs, or maybe I was simply born with big dreams and a big heart.
Whatever it is, in the last few years a yearning to succeed has pushed me to not accept "you can't" or "you'll never" as possibilities.
"You'll never stand out at a school as big as Penn State."
"You can't overcome the mistakes you've made."
"You've always been quiet and shy...you'll never make it as a journalist!"
These are the doubts of people in my life that made persistence an everyday part of my vocabulary until I achieved the ultimate goal last Saturday: graduating with a college degree.
Although I am now one of only 29% of Americans with a college degree, for a long time, the prospect of graduating from college didn't seem like that big of an accomplishment to me. I was raised in a household where going to college was expected. But all cockiness aside, after seeing how many of my peers will move on to fifth years and deferments and how many will never move on at all, I've come to be incredibly proud of not only my graduation, but all that I have achieved.
Now, in the days between the end of the beginning of my life and the beginning of the rest of my life, I have been hit with more of those can'ts and nevers:
"You can't live in New York City as a recent graduate on a journalism salary."
"In this economy, you'll never find a job."
"You can't do what you really want to do coming out of college...sometimes you have to settle for other things and work your way up."
So now, with my MacBook, passion, persistence and writer's heart in tow, it's time to prove them wrong...once again.
