Over this past weekend, I attended the Women in Engineering Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, and there was a speaker who inspired me to think about what I have in this world.

What I have acquired from my time in school, my family life, and my friendships. This speaker helped me to think about what I deserved.

I want you to take a moment, and think about what you have in this world.

Friends? Family? Health? Education? A stable job?

Now ask yourself, do I deserve this?

If you answer yes, you begin to understand the value of how important these things are in your life.

You understand that you have these things because you may have been gifted them, and you work to maintain them to make sure they stay in your life.

You are taking the steps in order to fulfill, not only, these things but also, yourself a person in this new and ever-changing world.

As you go through life you acquire, slowly and with a lot of work, these things, they usually don't come falling into your lap for the taking.

But when looking back, you see how far you have come since the beginning.

From a starting point, when I started seventh grade I moved from my hometown of Shamong, New Jersey to Marlton, New Jersey.

I knew absolutely no one, and I just remember how terrible it felt being in an unfamiliar place with people I have never met before.

Now, seven years later, I look back and I see myself as having made true connections to people from Marlton, friends I still keep in touch with while I am now in college.

I also gained a lot of knowledge throughout school, reading different things that interested me. I really was able to go beyond what was taught in school.

Now, what if you answered no?

This doesn't mean that you are undeserving of what is placed in front of you.

If you answered no, what you need to do is take a moment and give yourself a reason why.

I know personally when I was applying to schools, I always doubted deserving any type of scholarship, stopping me from applying.

I felt like I wouldn't be good enough to stand out from other applicants.

This always made me feel lesser than everyone else, which now looking back, I deserved that chance to apply because I worked hard.

At one point, we all felt that we were undeserving of something, whether it be our self-confidence or external factors like someone beating us down.

There are things that happen to us that make us feel like we don't deserve the things in our lives.

But if there is one thing that I could scream from the rooftops, and tell everyone I have the pleasure of coming into contact with,

If you work hard and try to make your life the best it can be in all aspects, you deserve it all.