Although we do currently live in a culture where being overworked and busy is glorified, some of that is false to a certain degree. I see so many students who do not put in the work to understand what they are learning and they still expect to do well. Not everything is going to be easy, and although doing what you love may be easier than doing something you hate, there should still be work involved, even if it is work that you enjoy.

Doing something just because it is easy or convenient will not lead to success, in school, work and relationships. Just because something is scary, painful or hard as opposed to being easy and comfortable does not mean that it is not worth it. I feel as if I am already learning this, even though I know I have a long way to go with doing what is scary and uncomfortable.

Still, I try to push myself, and I believe that this is leading me to a pathway of eventual success.

I was scared to apply for the Odyssey team, but I did it anyway. I do not regret it. I have some wonderful, talented people through the UNC-Chapel Hill Odyssey team and it has allowed me to build experience writing articles, which is what I want to do as a career someday.

I was even more terrified to apply for The Daily Tar Heel, which is UNC's student newspaper. And when I got on the photo desk I was very intimidated. I did not know anything about photography and I was virtually the only one with no experience. But now I really enjoy it and I think it is a valuable skill to have. Learning about photo composition and how to shoot manually, as opposed to automatically, has been so interesting.

These are small things, but I am proud of myself for trying to put myself out there. Especially because I have always been a pretty shy person who consistently is afraid of talking to authoritative figures and who is usually concerned with what people might say or think.

But, I think I am improving on being so afraid and concerned with what everyone else believes.

Although I still do not fully believe in myself, I think trying really hard, be it in classes or outside activities (or really even just with talking to people more) helps me to feel more secure in who I am, my happiness and my future.

I wish that self-deprecation was NOT the trend that it is now. I believe that so many people do not put themselves out there into new and challenging ventures because they do not believe that they are worth it or good enough. We are all guilty of staying in what is comfortable because we are afraid of failure.

However, we all need to start believing in ourselves and in what makes us happy. We need to push ourselves and believe ourselves to obtain any kind of success.

In regards to believing more in yourself, check out my last article on being kinder to yourself.