How often do you get discouraged? Think about that for a second. How often do you feel like you can’t keep going, or that you've lost all interest in what you're doing, and you feel like no matter what you do, you can't complete or obtain that objective? For many of the people reading this, I'm sure homework is the first thing that comes to mind. As a college student, homework is something that drags me down, personally. I feel as though there's always so much of it, and no matter how hard I work, I can never get to where I'm ahead and can take a break. The flip side is, even if I do get ahead and take a break, now I've taken a break and there's more work I now have to rush to complete. It feels like an endless, gushing waterfall of papers, projects and presentations.
This, however, doesn't just apply to the life of a senior college student. It applies to life outside of school, as well. No matter how far you get in your work, you can sometimes feel like it's pulling you down and running you into the ground. I know that there are many people in my life, including myself, who work hard at extremely difficult jobs and never feel like they're making any progress. Now that I've established all of this in your mind, I want to bring up what happens after this discouragement you're feeling.
Many people, I would like to believe, have something I like to call the Drive. This is that force inside them that keeps them going and keeps pushing them forward, no matter the cost and no matter the coffee-induced, sleep-deprived rush that finally gets them past the finish line. They do it because they have drive. Drive is that feeling you get when you get up in the morning, feeling like someone hit you with a semi-truck and you still push forward. Some of you may be asking, "Why would someone push themselves like that?" Because drive doesn’t let people like that give up at the first sign of difficult times ahead.
When I started college, I was warned that if I wasn’t careful, I would get stuck in a heavy, uphill battle to graduate, where every year would be harder than the last. This was discouraging at first, but then I realized something. I have the Drive. I have an innate desire in myself to push past any and all obstacles. This is a psychological effect. When you have drive, you can feel it. It’s a state of mind where you can achieve anything through Christ who strengthens you. I hold to a firm belief that anyone can have drive if they really gear themselves up for it.
God has given our bodies and minds the ability to jump in and adapt to any and all situations thrown at us. So when life gets you down and you feel discouraged, just remember that you can have that Drive, you can be that guy or girl who works at your goals with everything, not allowing anything to stop you from success. If you're one of those people who taps into the raw power of the Drive, I challenge you to find your goal today and reach it, whether it be homework, prayer or even just going for a jog. Work at it, because you have the Drive and God made you awesome.
