“Everything stinks till it’s finished,” the great Dr. Suess said.

As I progress into the week of midterms, I find myself relating to this quote more and more. With the ever-so-dreadful due dates approaching at a gazillion miles per hour, it is so easy to get overwhelmed and just give up.

The task has to be done, but it requires so much effort. It is now 4 p.m., and all that you have accomplished was finishing the rest of your favorite Netflix series, checking up on all the news on Facebook, and finishing a bag of Cheetos that have been sitting in your dorm room for a week. Finally, you decide to start writing the paper that you have been putting off for days now. Thoughts of dropping out run through your head frequently, but you continue writing, anyway.

Everyone has something that they loathe doing, whether that be writing essays, driving, or going to the dentist. With doing these loathsome tasks, you can find that, although it will stink, it will also have an end. Throughout my life, I have found how enjoyable or loathsome a task is correlates directly to my attitude.

Most dreadful things are unavoidable. You just have to grin and bear it. Perseverance through the valleys of life is not just a measure of endurance, but a reflection of character. Life gives you lemons. Some people are given more lemons than others, but what is done with those lemons is what counts.

While the quote states that everything stinks until it is finished, that is not always the case. Some things that stink are never finished. You simply have to deal with it until you die. You may not like your curly hair or your big nose. You may have a terminal illness. Some things you can’t change. The only thing that you can change is your attitude.

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it,” Charles R. Swindel

Everyone is experiencing a trial in life, whether we know it or not. What matters most is the way in which we respond to that test or troublesome situation. The ability to endure anything life throws at you is one of the most notable characteristics you can have. Although I may not have had the best reactions to everything that has happened to me this week, I am only human. Even though my attitude wasn't the best in certain situations, I have the ability to control my response right this moment.

From the very beginning, I have had to possess a positive attitude toward nearly everything. We lived in a rundown old farmhouse that was overrun by stray animals, because mygrandmother, a product of the Great Depression, struggled with a hoarding issue. It came to the point that Social Services had to get involved. Social Services gave my parents two weeks to find another place to live, because our current living conditions were deemed unfit. We moved to a trailer home, where my family still lives today. My parents have struggled to live paycheck-to-paycheck my whole life. I could go on and on about the trials and tribulations that I have faced, but I would rather not. I have always had parents who would do anything for me, have food on the table, and a roof over my head—a lot more than most people can say.

While life is tough, the resilience of the human spirit prevails. Despite all the stinky, ugly, and loathsome things of this life, there is an end. Having a stinky attitude will only make the situation even stinkier.

“Everything stinks until it is finished,” but is finished only when we recognize that the solution lies solely in our attitude. Life is what you make of it.