To the person who told me no,

Thank you.

I appreciate your challenge, I accepted your challenge, and I overcame your challenge.

I am so grateful that you shut the door in my face, that you had no hope for me, that you tried to make me dream smaller, because that was what gave me the inner-strength to do just what you said I could not. You may have brought me one step backward, but in turn I learned to bring myself two strides forward. You turned me in the right direction and forced me to become familiar with perseverance, persistence, and dedication.

My dreams have never been bigger, my accomplishments have never made me prouder, and I owe that to you. My life goals that you hoped to make more rational have doubled in size and my passion for ambition has multiplied. You taught me to be my greatest critic so that I can be my strongest supporter. I have found a way to work for my own best interest, so that people like you will do nothing but motivate me. I have become my own foundation, my own rock, my best friend. And I work in life to prove people like you wrong.

You would love to see me fall. You can not wait until I crash and burn. So I urge you...I challenge you to stand by with your logical, safe aspirations and watch me succeed in becoming something more than I am now. Growth is a drug to me, and your attempts to set me back only feed my addiction. My happiness thrives on personal accomplishment, and as I find myself building mastery every day with even the smallest steps, I see your opinions fading away.

So I thank you. Thank you for dreaming small. Thank you for urging me to be practical and normal. Thank you for trying to pull me from my dreams. Because without you, I would not be the go-getter that I am. Because of you, I will always dream big and I will never give up.

Yours truly,

A young adult dreamer with an infinite amount of ambition