I was around middle school age when I first remember hearing the line about working hard and gaining rewards from it. My adolescent mind breathed a sigh of relief at thinking that the key to success was so simple. I suppose if I had taken a minute to really think about it I could have foreseen the error of my ways, but alas!...I did not.

I was under the impression that as long as I worked hard and saved my money, I would be able to one-day live comfortably and without worry. Inevitably, I worked insanely hard through high school at our local doughnut shop. However, it wasn’t long before I found that waking up at five in the morning to sell pastries was not enough.

In order to be truly successful, you have to work hard to seek higher education. A college education is the only way to get a good job, after all. Unfortunately, working all throughout high school was not enough to pay for a full college experience. This was the first betrayal of the hard work system. I worked harder in high school than anyone else I knew, and still that was not enough to get me through the preliminary stages of success.

However, I could not challenge the system in which I believed. So I spent all of the rewards from my hard work in high school, and I tried to take the step into college. This is when I was stabbed twice by my trusty friend, hard work. I found that sometimes no matter how hard you work, the product of your hard work is not always a positive result. I hadn’t previously thought that I could spend more eight hours straight studying for an exam only to receive a D on the exam, but hard work does nothing to secure you a good grade.

In my eyes, the rust began to show on the platinum lined hard work plan. I no longer fully trusted the use of hard work as a means to a successful end. However, it’s hard to lose a good friend when you have clung to them so tightly, so I persisted. Meanwhile, I had to double the work I was currently doing in order to fund the next portion of my education. My resolve to succeed turned into exhaustion, and while I was working harder than ever, my goals seemed to be getting farther and farther away.

So I tugged on all the strings I could to desperately try and pull myself to success. I employed every tool I could, and I explored every path possible, and yet the haunting of success still glared in my face like a mirage.

I found that my hard work was not enough. I had to reach out for help from those closest to me. I thought that all of the hard work I had done would have earned me a little faith or a little respect, but I stared at rejection and realized that I had neither of those things.

I have nothing to show for all of the hard work I did. I have years of school I cannot afford ahead of me, and the debt of my past education to still do battle with. I no longer have a means to an end, or the strength to continue.

I believed that I could be the master of my fate. I believed that the sweat of my brow and tenacious character would reward me. I believed that people with nothing could be successful as long as they applied themselves, and I failed.