To those who did not believe in me: thank you.
Sincerely and honestly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
If you are wondering why I am saying "thank you" to those who I feel did not believe in me, here is why:
You motivated me.
By saying that my dreams were too big and that my goals were not in reach, and making me feel that I should second guess my plan, you made me want to work twice as hard. You added fuel to my fire and did nothing but motivate me more.
Thank you.
You built up my grit.
Hearing "you can't" or "that won't happen" or "you should try something more realistic" and the power to keep pushing, to not give up, to not stay down and to get up and work even harder is grit. You made me persevere and gave me the drive to keep working towards my goals.
You strengthened my backbone.
When you share an idea with someone and you can blatantly see the look on their face that screams "you're out of your mind," it can be one of two things: insulting or provoking. Insulting, to keep you from trying, to stop you dead in your tracks, or provoking. Provoking you to fight harder and work harder and take every single person that told you, "you can't" and prove them wrong.
You showed me that people in this world will doubt me and that I can prove them wrong.
When you are doubted, you often feel as if you don't have a chance at all. When someone doubts you and can't seem to see the same vision, just remember that we are all on different wavelengths in this universe. Who is anyone to doubt you? Thank you for doubting me because if I never felt doubted, I might not have worked as hard to get where I am today.
Today, as a twenty-one-year-old woman, I have accomplished far more than I could have ever imaged just 4 years ago. I am proud of where I am; I am excited and driven to keep working towards my goals. I am thankful for those who did not believe in me as much as I am thankful for my supporters.
Without you, I might not be as motivated. I might not have felt as strongly about proving someone's doubt wrong. I may not have had the grit to keep going. But because of you, I did.
To those of you who did not believe in me, I thank you.
Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today.
