There's this song that I haven't been able to get out of my mind. It's been replaying through my brain for the past couple of days, the tune and the message. It just sort of hit me all at once.

The song is Note To Self by Ben Rector, a secular artist who writes and sings about the common struggles he notices that people go through every day. I didn't use to like his music, but lately, I've really started to admire this guy and the messages he puts forth in his work.

I think my view on his music has changed because I'm at this point in my life where I'm trying to piece together what's next for me. And it's because of the fact that the timeline of my future is so uncertain that I'm beginning to realize the importance of things in my life that I was pretty unaware of before.

All of these things that I didn't use to see have become such a big part of who I aspire to be. I'm in this transition where there are things that I need to reface from my past in order to get to where I'd eventually like to be.

It scares me to know that I have to try again. That the first time I could've done so much better. That I have the potential to be so much more.

Isn't that worth recognizing though?

That in order to get to where your dreams wait for you, you may need to realize that you need to change something. That you may have to try multiple times. That the goal you've set for yourself lies on the other side of the potential you didn't realize you had for so long.

So, in this song, Ben notes to himself all of things that he should probably take notice of and take action on more often. The things he lists are daily things that we become oblivious to as time goes on, the things we learn to take for granted.

"Note to Self: clean the living room"

"Note to Self: get some exercise"

"Note to self: don't let yourself worry quite as much"

"Note to self: keep choosing her"

If you notice, he builds up the importance of the priorities in his life. After he notes the thing he wants to improve upon, he then goes on to explain why he makes this his goal and why this thing is important to him.

After he notes his most important priority, he goes into a conclusion that hit me like a brick wall:

"I don't know how long I have to keep reminding myself
To be who I want to be and not somebody else
I just thought by now I'd figure out the who and how I want to be
Cause I still let myself worry way too much
And it ends up fine enough
It always has and does still now
And I still need to think of other people more
Yes I've thought of that before
Maybe one day I'll figure out
You don't find peace
Until you love somebody else
Note to self"

Wow. "You don't find peace until you love somebody else."

Those words are powerful. We're all searching for who we want to be, but I don't think we realize that peace we want to feel lies in learning how to love others the right way.

Things in this life will come and go. A lot of the things we fail and succeed at are what a lot of us choose to let define us.

It is so easy to let the temporary things determine our worth--the grades we make, the jobs we have, the money we make, the people we date, you name it.

But I'm here to say that in this transition that life has brought, I have also come to realize that ,yes, the things I accomplish are important. When I feel like I fail, it almost seems like an impossibility that I can get to where I'd like to be.

I forget about all of the other things because I am so focused on myself. I temporarily forget that the real reason I am pursuing being a physical therapist is to help people, to develop relationships with people, to help heal them, to benefit their well-being.

Not mine.

This song reminds me of why I started college in the first place, of why I began this heart wrenching, love finding, learning day by day journey.

It took me half of college to learn how to love others. And it took me until now to realize that my hard work and compassion for others will eventually get me where I want to go.

I am sure of that.

Right now, the timeline isn't solid. I don't know where I'll be in two years.

But I do know where I'd like to be--loving others wherever I am, working towards my dream if I'm not already there, and constantly living out the potential I've always had inside of me.

And so by learning how to love others, I know my future will be just fine.

Note to Self: Never sell yourself short.