As another summer comes to an end, another marching band camp and another school year begins. Going into my sophomore year, I thought I knew everything about being a college student and in the marching band at the University of Dayton (UD). This band camp showed me that I was wrong. More importantly Tyson Wooters, a motivational speaker, told me I was wrong during his visit to our band.

Now imagine:

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?" (David Foster)

For Tyson, the water is the culture around each of us. Our culture can shape who we are and what we do. Like fish, we might forget, ignore or simply take for granted our “water.”

Similarly, Tyson explained how fleas can be trained to adapt to their surroundings. If you put fleas in a jar, they will keep jumping and hitting against the lid. Eventually, the fleas will learn not to jump so high and will continue to jump at a lower height, even after the lid is removed. Despite being able to escape, the fleas will jump lower until they tragically starve to death.

Like the fleas and the fish, I have become too comfortable in the “water” around me and have been trained to jump in a comfortable range. It can be too easy to settle into a comfortable routine: wake up, go to class, eat, go to class, eat, study, sleep and repeat. Unlike the fleas, we need to look up and see that the sky is the limit, not whatever “lid” we have put in place. What goals can we reach if we simply jump a little higher?

According to Tyson, the only resource we cannot get back is time. So many obstacles can become our “lids” and block our path to success. Just like with planning a road trip, you should plan the distance you want to travel in a given time and plan for the obstacles that might get in the way. By knowing the obstacle is coming, you will hopefully not be as stressed and can find a good way through or around that obstacle. As a student, these obstacles could include clubs, Greek life, sports, jobs, friends, family, dating, faith, anxiety, loss of interest, lack of communication, lack of money and the list goes on and on. What obstacles might you face? What will your road map look like?

We also need to look around and observe the culture around us. Like any human would, a lobster will fight if thrown straight into a pot of boiling water. If you slowly turn up the heat, however, the lobster will calmly boil to death.

Rather than remain in a boiling pot, we should jump into cooler waters. We should dive into a culture that is healthy and supportive that will help us not only survive but also thrive.

Tyson made me question what more I could achieve if I looked to the sky and followed my own road map. As I begin my school year, I plan to make goals that will push me to jump higher than what I am comfortable with. I plan to surround myself with a culture of friends, family, teachers and peers that will push me to become my best self. Who will help you swim against the current? Who will help you jump to new heights? Where will your road map take you?